I understand the point of view that Ward should get more money, bigger split, because he was the victor in the first match. But I wonder if there is any more money to pay him? Ward was guaranteed $5 million and someone here said he was getting $7 million. The first fight was maybe barely break even, with a lot of reports RNS lost money on the fight.
If Ward truly wants to retire that is one thing. Wouldnt Kovalev automatically become one of the mandatories to regain the belt? The fight would need still sell a fair bit more to get more than $7 milly. Not sure it can do it. If Ward wants to keep fighting, $7 million seems like a great purse for that fight.