Keyshawn Davis’ coach, Dorsett Barnwell, believes his fighter was right to withdraw from the ordered WBO welterweight title fight against Devin Haney because the proposed purse did not reflect his value.
Top Rank won the purse bid with an offer of $8.55 million. Under the WBO’s mandatory 75-25 split, Haney was due approximately $6.41 million, while Davis would have received just over $2.1 million.
Barnwell compared that figure with the reported $3.5 million Brian Norman Jr. was set to earn for a previous fight with Haney. He argued that Davis is the bigger attraction and should not have been offered less.
“Brian Norman received 3.5 to fight Devin Haney, but y’all telling me that Brian Norman should get more money than Keyshawn Davis?” Barnwell said.
The situations were different, however. Norman was the reigning WBO champion when his Haney fight was arranged, while Davis entered the purse bid as the mandatory challenger and was therefore entitled to only 25 per cent under the organization’s rules.
Davis also had limited negotiating power after missing weight in consecutive fights and had yet to record a major victory at welterweight. Barnwell nevertheless maintained that prize fighters must be paid according to their drawing power, while critics believe Davis’ recent circumstances made the WBO split reasonable.
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