Triller wins purse bid for Teofimo Lopez’s next title defense

There was an upset on Thursday morning in the boxing world as Triller, the social media company that put on the Roy Jones, Jr.-Mike Tyson exhibition last year won a purse bid to promote the Teofimo Lopez-George Kamosos Jr fight for $6 million.  Lopez will defend his IBF lightweight title. 

Triller won the purse bid with $6.018M.  Matchroom Boxing came in second with $3.506M and Top Rank, Lopez’s promoter, bid $2.315M.  Based on the winning bid Lopez will receive $3.9M and Kamboso will get $2.1M minus each cut from their existing promoter. 

#LopezKambosos purse bid results: Triller wins at $6.018M, Matchroom $3.506M, Top Rank 2.315M. Lopez gets 65% of winning bid: $3,911,700 but minus TR's 20% cut ($782,340). Kambosos gets $2,106,300 minus whatever his deal is with DiBella. Both fighters make BY FAR biggest purses.

— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) February 25, 2021

The purse bid allows promoters the opportunity to bid the amount they would pay for the opportunity to promote the fight.  The highest offer wins so long as they produce a portion of the amount of the total up-front. 

The win by Triller is surprising considering one of the boxer’s promoters usually wins the bid to promote.  Also, this will be Triller’s first time promoting a championship-level event. 

Dave McWater, the manager of Teofimo Lopez, on the Triller purse bid: "Very excited to be on an exciting new platform and to be vindicated by the free market."

— Sean Nam (@seanpasbon) February 25, 2021

Payout Perspective:

Triller is a disrupter in the marketplace right now.  It’s a big social media company with deep pocket backers and can afford the investment to make inroads into the boxing space.  The production of the Tyson-Jones event was done well and very professional.  Triller can lean into a young demo and push the event through its robust social media channels.  The purse bid format reflects that the free market can work in some situations. The paydays are the highest in the careers of both fighters. That said, you may expect this on PPV with a lot of tie-ins with sponsors.