Danny's on the road to riches

David Smith|Evening Standard|In Las Vegas

14 April 2012

Danny Williams can become one of Britain's richest sportsmen if he wins boxing's world heavyweight championship on Saturday.

Despite beating Mike Tyson, Williams barely cleared £70,000 from that fight. This weekend his purse is understood to be worth just over £500,000.

But Frank Warren, his manager and promoter, claims victory over WBC title-holder Vitali Klitschko at the Mandalay Bay Arena in Las Vegas would set him on the road to a £10million fortune.

Just 11 months ago Williams was reduced to the ranks of boxing's journeymen fighting for purses of no more than £2,000 when he lost his British and Commonwealth belts to Michael Sprott.

But the 31-year-old Londoner will really arrive in the big-time if he can beat Ukrainian Klitschko.

Warren is already looking ahead to three title defences next year, one of them planned for the capital, and he expects sponsors to come beating on the door of a boxer whose intelligence, quiet dignity and clean-cut image is at odds to the usual perception of a boxer's character.

"It would be a Cinderella story," said Warren. "If Danny wins the world title, which I believe he has a great chance of achieving, he would become one of the top-earners in British sport.

"If Danny has three fights next year you're talking tens of millions. Klitschko is regarded as the best heavyweight in the world right now, but if Danny beats him he'll be No1 and other promoters like Don King will be eager to do business with us."

Rematches with Klitschko and Tyson could be worth up to £10m each if they sell well on pay-per-view television.

Warren said: "If Danny wins on Saturday and Tyson wants a shot at the world title, it's there. But the bottom line of it all is that, if he wins in Vegas on Saturday, Danny will fight anyone out there. There is nobody to be frightened off."

When it comes to cashing in on success, banking fight purses is only the half of it.

Lennox Lewis and Naseem Hamed, Britain's two highest-earning boxers, virtually doubled their money through endorsement and advertising deals. Former undisputed world heavyweight champion Lewis, the 384th wealthiest person in Britain, according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List, has a fortune estimated at £100m. Hamed, the former world featherweight champion, is thought to be worth £25m.

Williams, who lives in a three-bedroomed end-of-terrace house in Peckham and drives a second-hand Peugeot, is aware of how much is at stake when he faces Klitschko. "The richer I become, the more righteous I'll become," said Williams, who is a devout Muslim. "I believe that when Allah gives you riches you are supposed to help other people with it.

"There is no better joy than giving someone something and seeing the joy on their face. I believe the more famous I become, and the more richer I become, the more giving I'll become."

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Danny's on the road to riches

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