Managing Fighters

This is a terrible thing to say, but boxing management and promotion are both patently paternalistic activities. I wish there were a way that they could not be, but there isn't. Boxers have been encouraged to be children; that they are is in the best interests of those who control the business. So, as managers, we make decisions that often overlook the fact that we are acting as agents for grown men. In a deeply codified system--a deeply entrenched culture--there is almost no mechanism available that lets you have an adult business partnership with a fighter. One of the reasons a guy like Bernard Hopkins is so despised within the industry is that he makes adult decisions on his own behalf. That kind of behavior works in opposition to the conventional boxing hierarchy. It's a good reason to love Bernard Hopkins.