There is something really sad about an uneducated person who refuses to seek out help.
Such is the case with many sports figures. They earn huge amounts of money—millions. Yet, after a few years, too many of them end up broke, a result of their own ignorance.
You have heard the old proverb: A fool and his money are soon departed.
Many of these sports figures are plucked up from uneducated backgrounds. They have friends and family in their pockets. They don’t know how to invest. They spend it as it comes in.
Recently I read a sad article about former boxer, Riddick Bowe. The guy is now going to flea markets to sell his autograph and to try to pawn off his old boxing gloves, pictures, etc.
Keep in mind that when he retired, Riddick Bowe was worth $15,000,000. Where on earth did all that money go? I’ll be honest with you. If he had 15 billion dollars, he would still be broke.
When a person has that type of money, the goal is to find a way to invest it and keep it. But that takes either education or sense or the smarts to hire an honest investment expert who can lead you in the right direction.
Apparently Riddick Bowe and many like him have none of those things.
Riddick Bowe sat on a folding chair behind a card table that straddled two parking spaces, labeled in chalk as Nos. 264 and 265. Most people sauntered past, holding bargains in a bag or grilled meat on a stick, not recognizing the large man who waited for someone to come see him.
“The champ is here!” Darren Antola, who set up the autograph session, called out, like a carnival barker. “He beat Evander Holyfield two out of three times!”
Bowe, now 40 years old, [and reportedly punch drunk] has not thought about the possibility of completing his education and getting a trade school certificate or even a college degree. This sad man cannot think beyond boxing:
“What would I do without boxing? That’s the question, isn’t it?” he asked during a quiet moment under the canopy where he sat. He searched for the answer inside his head, which his own lawyers once argued was damaged from all the blows it absorbed.
“Boxing’s all I know,” he said finally. “At 40, what else am I going to do?”
Of course he did once join the Marine Corps Reserves but he quit a few days later. This is a man who is directionless and pitiful. I recall when he was married. His wife had left him and moved to North Carolina. He went there and tried to force her and his five children back home to Maryland. He ended up spending 18 months in jail.
Well now he is remarried and he is a sad case. The classic case of the broken, worn out, punch drunk former boxer who—in the end, has no money, no true hope and no plans.
Sad, indeed.
Hat tip to Greg for story lead
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American Idol
Tiger Woods
I remember reading an article in the New York Times about a year ago that said he was broke. The article also talked about the fact that during his trial for kidnapping his ex-wife and children, it was discovered that he has a form of brain damage from the many years of fighting and being punched in the head. His defense team, which included the late Johnnie Cochrane had experts testify that this brain damage caused him to often bahave erratically and it even slurred his speech causing him to often sound like he is drunk and it sometimes slowed his movements, which was why he wound up losing his championship title and his career hasn’t been the same since.
It is sad that he really is not able to continue his boxing career, as clearly it seems like the only thing he was most passionate about, which could explain why he didn’t make preparations to do anything else in the event he could box no more.
Riddick Bowe was also one of the most charitable boxers as well. He was always compared to Mike Tyson becasue they came from the same neighborhood in Brooklyn, but Bowe was known as a giver, and a ‘gentle giant’ who actually funded a lot of community projects for youth in Brownsville.
Yes, he did make some foolish purchases, as I recall him having a 12 car garage with an abundance of luxury cars. I also think he may have been victimized in the same manner that Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield were by their managers/accountants, etc. When people like this come from nothing and suddenly have millions of dollars, they usually look at it like a windfall and never imagine that the windfall may actually cease one day. I do hope that he is learning from his mistakes and can find something that makes him equally as happy, perhaps even coaching/mentoring young people who want to go into boxing.
When he was at the top of his game and still living in Maryland, I remember driving through the general town in which he lived (the Ft. Washington/Tantallon area) and he was driving one of his luxury cars.
I don’t understand why such people cannot find someone honest to help them invest that money. They don’t have the personal smarts to keep it.
And yes, tons and tons of cars are unnecessary. Why not own just a car and a truck?
It’s called ignorance.
People DON’T UNDERSTAND the business of BOXING, U get PAID ONLY when U FIGHT! U Do NOT own UR copy RIGHTS NOTHING! OK let try to break it DOWN FOR U!!! OK, when you get your PURSE MONEY “say” 1 million dollars this is the BREAK DOWN PEOPLE don’t KNOW about, IT EASY to GO BROKE! U first have to pay Manager 20 % or 30% for getting the FIGHT, Trainer gets 10% cut man gets 2% That’s 42% ALREADY PLUS if you had a training CAMP U have to fork that money over and PAY ur sparring partners, living expense, food expense, training gear and etc, LIST go’s ON AND ON….. U FORGOT #1 thing IRS YES UNCLE SAM GET MRE THAN HALF and puts u in a CrAzY TAX BRACKET!!! Now U get TAXED on the WHOLE 1 MILLION DOLLARS in reality thats NOT what U took HOME! Plus if they are divorced they PAY CHILD-SUPPORT which go’s OFF there income so say he pay 150,000. a year thats NOT a write OFF to the IRS unless she agrees U can write it off for spousal support, WHICH what EX Wife DOES NONE thats WHY there THE X! so at the end of the DAY ur BROKE AS A JOKE, cause NOW U have to live on what U HAVE left till the NEXT FIGHT if there is one! SO U have to MAINTAIN ur BILLS and ect. till the next FIGHT! MAN I can write a BOOK on this! YES The BIG NAMES in BOXING GO BROKE, some were able to recover and some could NOT! BUT YES they WANT to invest there MONEY but they DON’T have enough to do SO!!!! only a HAND FULL of FIGHTERS MADE MONEY !! AND STILL have SOME NOT ALL!!!!!!!!!
NO ONE EVER cares about the FIGHTER, They are only there for THERE MONEY! HIS Game don’t want U 2 HAVE MONEY Cause they NEED U to be BROKE, cause it’s a PIMP and HOE GAME!!! Fighters are ALWAYS GETTING PIMPED OUT !
Boxer’s Wife,
You did not identify which boxer you are a wife of. I won’t ask you his name but….is he still boxing and did he hold onto any significant amount of money?
Thanks for the break down of the money.
But you know what? In spite of the break down that you offered, most of the boxers are not saving their money. You don’t need a fleet of $100,000 – $200,000 cars, yet that’s what many boxers have. You don’t need a palace; yet I know that Evander Holyfield purchased a palace in Georgia.
Boxers are over-spending. It shows ignorance.