While high-level professional boxing is a lucrative business, you can still earn a solid income from the sport without actually throwing leather in the ring.
You can become a boxing judge, a referee, a coach, or even a promoter. If you would prefer to avoid professional boxing altogether, you can make money through the sport by teaching classes or creating boxing-related content on the internet for public consumption.
So how do you get started? Let’s dive in.
1. Becoming a coach/trainer
Unsurprisingly, this once again involves USA Boxing because it governs all things boxing in the U.S. You can earn a coaching certification by attending a clinic or taking a test online. USA Boxing coaches must renew their certification every two years.
Throughout your training, you will learn how to teach fighting techniques, motivate fighters and keep them in good physical condition. Once you get past the entry-level, you will need to focus on fight preparation and training sessions that are focused on a specific goal (speed, cardio, technique, etc.).
USA Boxing coaches can progress through four coaching levels:
- Green—Training new boxers.
- Bronze—Training novice and club boxers.
- Silver—Coaching fighters who are looking to compete at regional or national tournaments.
- Gold—Coaching fighters who are on the national team or eligible for it.
Having both fighting and coaching experience will make you a strong candidate to work at a professional boxing gym. If your fighters enjoy some success, you may develop a strong reputation and attract interest from higher-profile clients.
Bear in mind not everyone is cut out for that. Whether they aren’t talented enough or simply prefer entry-level training, some coaches will opt to teach classes at a private gym or recreation center. Obviously, this is less intensive work and will not pay well as professional coaching. However, there is a much lower barrier to entry and the opportunities are plentiful. In many cases, you may not even need a USA Boxing certification to land a job.
Professional coaches usually earn 10% of their fighter’s purse. Considering top-tier boxers make millions of dollars per fight, that’s a lot of money. Those coaches are the outliers, though. As an average coach at an average gym, your salary will sit closer to $40K per year.
Much like with judging or refereeing, you have to love the sport to do this. In all likelihood, coaching won’t bring in the big bucks.
2. Creating boxing content
Finally, there is the newest way to earn money from boxing: content creation. YouTube is a great platform for teaching, and you can take a couple of approaches to your content:
- Make video tutorials.
- Break down fight footage to discuss certain fighters or tactics.
Tutorials will involve physically demonstrating different facets of the sport (stances, techniques, etc.). This is particularly useful for beginners who might be hesitant to join a gym. Through your videos, they can learn the basics about how to position their feet and throw punches.
Coach Anthony, Fran Sands, Precision Striking and Tony Jeffries are solid resources in this vein.
If you want to dig deeper, then you can publish videos about specific matches or techniques that pro fighters use. This style of content will require good editing skills and narration because you are relying entirely on third-party footage as well as your script to engage viewers.
With that said, since your focus is on professional boxing, you can discuss more advanced concepts and tricks than you would in a tutorial for beginners.
As a shameless plug, our own YouTube channel features in-depth fight breakdowns and videos on specific high-level techniques. Elsewhere, The Modern Martial Artist explores boxing techniques and fights through a more historical lens, whereas Complex Boxing publishes breakdowns of the biggest fights.
But maybe you would rather create short-form content. In that case, you can make YouTube shorts or even TikTok videos. Obviously, tutorials are a better fit for brief clips. You should focus on teaching a specific technique in the quickest but most engaging way. Make sure your background is visually appealing and you choose a catchy song to play in the background.
In order to earn money on YouTube, you must join the Partner program. You will earn money from views, but you can supplement that income with sponsored content and brand deals as well.
On TikTok, you must be older than 18 years of age to make money on the platform. You also need at least 10,000 followers and at least 100,000 views over the past 30 days. If you meet those criteria, you can apply for Creator status.
Views and advertisers will impact how much you can earn on these platforms. On YouTube, 1 million views can generate anywhere between $3-40K for the creator.
Then there is blogging. Whether you run a website yourself or wish to contribute to one, blogging is a valuable resource for avid learners.
Researching skills are invaluable here, as you must gather information to supplement your own knowledge. No one knows everything about a certain topic, so you must be able to find relevant tidbits from across the internet and present them in a clean, digestible format.
Blogging is not as visually engaging or immediate as videos, but it remains a great way to reach an audience.
If you run your own blog, you can make money through ads and affiliate links. If you are contributing to someone else’s blog, then the owner will pay you based on an agreed-upon rate.
3. Becoming a promoter
Professional boxing media makes the role of boxing promoter seem glamorous and easy. You just show up on screen and sell fights, right? It is not that simple.
If you would like to become a promoter, there are two options to consider: Working your way up in a promotion company or starting from scratch.
The first path is a more traditional one. Look into local promotion companies and offer them your services. Perhaps one can bring you on as an intern (paid or not). From there, you must work hard in hopes of becoming a full-time employee. If you can manage that and make connections in the sport along the way, you may be granted the chance to promote fights.
Obviously, since you work for a company, it will take a cut of any event you promote.
But if you have greater ambition—and significant capital—you can try to strike out on your own as a promoter.
- The first step is research. Soak up as much information as you can regarding the requirements and laws you must abide as a promoter.
- Next, you need to apply for a promoter’s license from a boxing commission. That will cost a small fee. If your application is granted, you will then need to pay another fee of $500+ depending on where you live.
- From there, you must wait to hear back from the commission. You are typically notified of the results by mail or at an in-person hearing.
Once you are approved, you must now promote your first event. There are a ton of requirements and considerations:
- You must apply for an event permit.
- Make sure you have an insurance policy in case anyone is seriously hurt during the event.
- The venue itself must have a regulation-sized ring, dressing rooms, etc.
- You need the right equipment (regulation competition gloves, headgear, stools and buckets for each fighter’s corner, tables and chairs for judges, etc.).
- It goes without saying that you need fighters in order to hold a fight. Early on, you can try to find promising fighters at local gyms. It helps to have an eye for talent or at least exciting fighters.
- You need staff as well (a ringside physician, an announcer, security, certified referees and judges).
- Marketing the event is essential. Use social media and try to contact local outlets for coverage.
In case you have not noticed, promoting fights is expensive. You will need to hold several events in order to get any traction, and that means you will need significant capital to even reach the world of professional boxing.
The amount of money you make will depend on the magnitude of the events you promote. Obviously, holding big-money fights will be more profitable than remaining on the local circuit.
Of course, getting to that point without connections in the sport is considerably more difficult.
4. Becoming a boxing judge
As we mentioned in a previous article, “Becoming a professional boxing judge is a long process that involves licensing, training and mentorship.”
First and foremost, you must learn how to become a certified boxing judge. You will need to contact USA Boxing, provide some personal information (finances, criminal history, etc.) and pay to apply for a license (usually $90 for registration and an additional $25 for a background check). The training course will also require payment, but the sum depends on where you apply.
The certification test itself can be taken either online or in-person at your Local Boxing Committee (LBC).
After getting through the paperwork, you must complete the training course and then shadow established judges in order to gain experience. Once the Chief of Officials at your LBC deems you ready to judge matches, you can begin working on amateur matches until you meet your state’s requirements. At that point, you can move on to professional boxing if you like.
Of course, this does not guarantee that you will immediately find opportunities. You will need to leverage the network you have created in the sport and keep judging amateur fights in the meantime.
Even if you do reach the professional level, the money is not great unless you sit at the pinnacle. Judges’ salaries depend on experience and the fight purse, so the bigger the fight, the more you will make. The biggest officials can earn upwards of $100K per year. An average referee will likely fall somewhere between $20-40K.
Realistically, you should only take this path if you have a true passion for the sport.
Note: If you would prefer to work as a referee, the process is similar. Apply for certification through USA Boxing, gain experience as a judge, attend referee-oriented clinics and start working as a referee at the lower levels until your COO feels you are prepared for the amateur ranks. With enough time and a good track record, you can then progress to professional boxing.
Conclusion
Even if you are not a professional fighter, you can still make money from boxing. Whether you wish to judge fights, coach fighters, promote events, or create content about the sport, there are several options available.
Regardless of which one you choose, success will require time, dedication, boxing knowledge and a bit of luck.
