When 500 Million Dollars Ain’t Enough: Iron Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Sugar Ray Robinson, James Jeffries, and Other Boxing Bankruptcies
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Light middleweight boxer James De La Rosa went bankrupt over credit card debts and medical bills. Top rated lightweight contender Henry ‘Hank’ Lundy is just one of many highly regarded boxers who have mishandled their own finances and gone bankrupt. The most recent on screen example of a boxer getting taken financial advantage of is highlighted in the movie Rocky V starring Sylvester Stallone.
Former World Heavyweight champion Michael Spinks is currently involved in a lawsuit against the estate of his longtime boxing promoter Butch Lewis, who handled his earnings and finances but suddenly got cut off from his portfolio when Lewis died. Michael Spinks is nearing the same boat as the late former World Heavyweight champion James J. Jeffries, who went into voluntary bankruptcy in 1923, 14 years after promoter Tex Richard told Jeffries if he did not return to the ring to fight Jack Johnson (which Jeffries did in 1909, and got stopped), the promoter would incur bankruptcy.
The World Boxing Council was forced into bankruptcy to the tune of $31 million over the loss of the world light heavyweight title won by German Graciano Rocchigiani in 1998, when it was given back to Roy Jones Jr. without justifiable reason. The courts also ordered the WBC to recognize Rocchigiani as world champion from 1998 to 2000 even if the WBC, the Ring Record Book and BoxRec subsequently did not agree with it the WBC had to. The WBC is not alone. Boxing South Africa, better known as the BSA, went broke too.
Rocchiani won a split decision for the vacant world light heavyweight title over Michael Nunn on March 21, 1998. The WBC subsequently reclassified Rocchigiani’s win as a typographical error. To prevent paying out the bankruptcy settlement, which it could not do, the WBC and Rocchiani’s New York lawyers worked out a settlement saving the existence of the WBC.
Hitman Thomas Hearns went broke, and watched a police auction off his house and personal belongings to benefit the internal Revenue Service. Middleweight champion Randy Turpin went broke too. Hearns and Turpin share the good company of many other known boxers in the bankrupt respect. Iron Mike Tyson, who earned at least 350 to 400 million dollars, perhaps as much as 500 million dollars, and had nothing left, but who later remarried and put his life back together; and Iran ‘The Blade’ Barkley, who wound up homeless, but now resides in the Bronx thanks to assistance from boxing charities. Eccentric British boxer Chris Eubank went broke with outstanding debts of over two million dollars. James ‘Lights Out’ Toney went broke.
Other boxing champions who went broke include: Sven Ottke (divorce); Herbie Hyde (two bankruptcies, used for libel by boxing promoter Frankie Warren and lost); Glenn McCrory (personal living costs); Nate Campbell (back taxes); Curtis Cokes (back taxes); former Smokin’ Joe Frazier (lived above his gym, which he eventually lost); (Fernando Vargas (went to court to evict his mother from her home); Leon Spinks (adopted his wife’s two children and wound up paying double child support after divorce, and wound up homeless); Vinny Pazienza (gambling); Rocky Lockridge (who wound up homeless on drugs, but has since recovered); Wilfredo Benitez (lives on public assistance in a Puerto Rico public nursing home since 1997); Joe Louis (back taxes); Dariusz Michalczewski (two divorces); and Riddick Bowe (went to jail for kidnapping his wife and children, now sells his autograph at flea markets).
Other boxing bankruptcies include: Evander Holyfield (made $250 million, owed $14 million on his home, also owed for two divorces and multiple child support and back taxes, on November 30, 2012 an auction sold many of his assets and memorabilia, while his home sold for $7.5 million); Scott Harrison (jailed and on drugs); Sugar Ray Robinson (divorce and unpaid taxes); Matthew Saad Muhammad (homeless and living in a shelter); Esteban De Jesus (on drugs, convicted of murder, became a prison baseball player and preacher, got AIDS, and later pardoned before his death); and the late Johnny ‘Mi Vida Loca’ Tapia (jail record covered a 125 page rap sheet; drug and alcohol abuse, five times clinically dead due to drug overdoses).
The following fighters / groups past and present are known to have filed for bankruptcy:
Fighter Division
Rocky Balboa Movie World Heavyweight Champion in Rocky V
Iran Barkley Multi Division World Champion
Wilfredo Benitez Multi Division World Champion
Riddick Bowe World Heavyweight Champion
Nate Campbell Multi Division World Champion
Curtis Cokes World Welterweight Champion
Esteban De Jesus World Lightweight Champion
Luisito Espinosa Multi Division World Champion
Chris Eubank Multi Division World Champion
Joe Frazier (Trust Account) World Heavyweight Champion
Ivaylo Gotzev Boxing Manager of Heavyweight Champions
Scott Harrison World Featherweight Champion*
Herbie Hyde World Heavyweight Champion
Badou Jack Super Middleweight*
James J. Jeffries World Heavyweight Champion
Rocky Lockridge World Super Featherweight Champion
Joe Louis Barrow World Heavyweight Champion
Henry Lundy Lightweight, Light Welterweight*
James De La Rosa Light Middleweight*
Thomas Hearns Multi Division World Champion
Evander Holyfield World Heavyweight Champion
Glenn McCrory World Cruiserweight Champion
Dariusz Michalczewski Multi Division World Champion
Rolando Navarette World Junior Lightweight Champion
Victor Ortiz World Welterweight champion
Sven Ottke World Super Middleweight Champion
Vinny Paz Multi Division World Champion
Hasim Rahman World Heavyweight Champion
Marc Roberts Boxing Promoter and Real Estate Mogul
Sugar Ray Robinson Multi Division World Champion
Kevin Rooney Sr. Welterweight and Champion Trainer
Matthew Saad Muhammad World Light Heavyweight Champion
Leon Spinks World Heavyweight Champion
Johnny Tapia Multi Division World Champion
James Toney Multi Division World Champion*
Randy Turpin World Middleweight Champion
Mike Tyson (Enterprises) World Heavyweight Champion
Fernando Vargas World Light Middleweight Champion
Major Arnold Wilson British Sportsman and Boxing Promoter
Boxing South Africa (BSA) National governing body for boxing, restructured
LBA Associates Boxing Promotional Group represented Larry Holmes
Universum Box-Promotions Hamburg company promoted the Klitschkos and others
* Asterisk indicates boxer is still active
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