Blockchain tech is the boxing industry’s game-changer

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Boxing is the fourth most popular sport in the United States; But behind closed doors it is one of the most divided and inefficient sports industries. Its recent growth has been aided by the growth of social media, extensive marketing campaigns by advertisers and the influx of influencers stepping into the ring. It is currently estimated to be worth over $1 billion in the US alone and there are 300 million boxing fans worldwide.

However, the industry today faces significant challenges, especially for young, underrepresented amateurs who have not benefited from this growth. Fortunately, blockchain technology has the potential to transform this.

Talent should be linked to career advancement in any sport, but unfortunately this is not always enough. The journey to becoming a professional boxer involves collaborating with many people around the world, including sparring partners, agents, promoters, trainers, nutritionists and masseurs who use different platforms to connect and communicate. This fragmented environment makes it difficult for inexperienced boxers to find the right professionals, negotiate fair compensation, and establish mutually beneficial relationships.

With 17 weight classes in men’s boxing alone and four different governing bodies that hand out belts, the industry operates within siled ecosystems with opaque decision-making processes that often lead to squabbles over rankings, fight negotiations and revenue.

Access to significant funding is essential for career development, but financial barriers often mean aspiring boxers miss out on opportunities. But top pros like Floyd Mayweather, who received $223 million for his fight with Manny Pacquiao in 2015; but in 2018, the average professional boxer earned only $35,584 gross. The enormous costs associated with securing and paying for senior stakeholders, services and equipment, traveling abroad to network, and establishing brand presence make the path to success economically unsustainable for many.

Many of these issues occur in the sports industry, but sports clubs, athletes and governing bodies are leveraging the benefits of decentralized blockchain to tackle them.

Blockchains such as Chiliz facilitate the creation of fan tokens so that sports teams can engage with fans and increase monetization, such as Tottenham Hotspur’s ‘Spurs Fan Token’. The technology is also being used to streamline processes like Sports Illustrated’s NFT-based ticketing service, combat fake ticket sales, and further incentivize fans. The symbiotic relationship between sports enthusiasts and crypto holders has led to strategic partnerships aimed at increasing awareness, such as Lionel Messi and Bitget, the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, and Manchester City and OKX.

In boxing, a number of exclusive NFTs were sold by world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, with all funds going towards helping a charity in his native Ukraine during the war. But blockchain’s potential to transform the boxing industry goes far beyond NFTs.

Decentralized management holds the key to revolutionizing the boxing industry. Blockchain provides a single decentralized network to unify boxing’s fragmented ecosystems, eliminating centralized third parties and promoting transparent transactions and interactions between stakeholders.

The growing creative economy has seen increased tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) and now boxers, promoters, coaches, sponsors and other industry players can tokenize their skills and services on the blockchain. This gives them full control over their data and career decisions, increasing transparency, reducing costs and streamlining processes that are vital for poorer, marginalized boxers at the beginning of their careers.

Not only that, but blockchain’s global accessibility to anyone with an internet connection increases networking opportunities for boxers and fans by creating a unified boxing community and helps up-and-coming talents easily identify sparring partners to help them achieve success.

Blockchain’s transparency and immutability are vital in bringing trust to the industry. Permanently storing all data, such as records of athlete contracts, partnerships and financial transactions, on the blockchain fosters trust among stakeholders and supports informed decision-making. Accessible to everyone, boxers can analyze past transactions to understand legitimacy, ensure fair pricing and trustworthy partnerships. If an advertiser pays a boxer through that boxer’s agent on the blockchain, the boxer can see the exact amount they should receive without the agent taking an unfair cut. Similarly, corruption, such as the eleven boxing fights at Rio 2016 thought to have been fixed, can be combated by disclosing the payoffs to the judges or boxers involved.

When it comes to sensitive data related to transactions and high-value transactions, blockchain’s strong security measures reassure industry participants of data confidentiality and integrity. Strong cryptographic encryption techniques protect transactions and communications, make it difficult for fraudsters to intercept or modify data without permission, and prevent illegal or illegitimate transactions. This high security gives confidence to boxing professionals, especially those who are new to or skeptical of blockchain technology.

Decentralized management also reduces transaction costs and eliminates intermediary parties that can disrupt the boxing industry. Cryptocurrencies are a universal medium of exchange that seamlessly enables cross-border transactions such as payments for coaching services, advertising endorsements and fan engagement. As a globally accessible currency, it expands the network of connections that can be made in the industry, allowing American boxer Mike Tyson to easily pay his Brazilian promoter Rafael Cordeiro without having to worry about exchange fees between currencies.

Fan tokens and NFTs are a great way for boxers to monetize their brands and interact directly with fans, bypassing traditional intermediaries and maximizing revenue streams for athletes. Fans are incentivized to purchase the token, unlocking access to exclusive content and decision-making processes.

The final piece of the puzzle can be solved by creating a unified, blockchain-based SocialFi platform that accommodates the industry’s needs under one roof. Last November, the world’s first boxing platform, Ready to Fight, was created, taking advantage of decentralized web3 technology to bridge the boxing, fan and crypto communities. By providing a vast ecosystem for boxers to showcase their talents, network with industry peers, and connect with fans to monetize their content, Ready to Fight is poised to solve the boxing industry’s problems once and for all.

Although a lot of work will need to be done to convince web2 users to adopt the technology, as the boxing community embraces blockchain innovation, the industry is becoming clearer, fairer and more accessible to everyone.

Sergey Lapin

Sergey Lapin is the co-founder and CEO of Ready To Fight, the first blockchain-based online boxing platform. Created in November 2023, Ready to Fight allows athletes (amateurs and professionals) to connect with fans and monetize their content while working with promoters, coaches, sponsors, sparring partners, psychologists, etc. It is a SosyalFi platform that aims to help people interact bilaterally under mutually beneficial conditions. Transactions are powered by native RTF tokens within a transparent, open and secure network. At Ready to Fight, Sergey oversees the direction and development of the platform, combining his experience in the fragmented and inefficient boxing industry with the benefits of blockchain technology to lead a technological revolution in boxing.