Haney said the offer required him to wait until he had covered approximately $6 million in expenses before earning anything, after which there was a 50-50 split with Romero. He portrayed the terms as inconsistent with his position, noting that Romero had never made $2 million for a single fight.
“They came to me with a list of expenses of 6 million and after splitting the 6 million I make my first dollar,” Haney said in X. “And on top of that, I split 50% with Rolando, who has never made 2 million in one fight!”
The clarification shifts the focus from the will to fight to the structure of the transaction. The proposed fight was scheduled for May 30 and was billed as a significant welterweight bout, but the terms appear to have been in line with a model in which fighters are paid from residual earnings after costs are covered, rather than from guaranteed cash.
If you look at it through Haney’s lens, it’s a refusal to be the only gambler. Haney is basically saying, “I’m a star, but I take all the financial risk while Rolly gets 50% of the benefits.”
In boxing, a “markdown” move is often a polite way of saying “no,” but in this case, the detailed terms that Haney leaked as he waited to settle $6 million in costs before making a dime suggest a deal that was objectively unfavorable to a fighter of his stature.
The revenue-driven model increases profits if the event is successful, but also transfers financial risk to competitors if it fails. His comments suggest he was not prepared to take such a risk on equal terms.
The fight is over on this date, so both sides must look for alternative options. Haney made his position clear: He didn’t think the numbers reflected his side of the equation.
Rolly’s victory over Ryan Garcia last May in Times Square changed his internal math. This victory gave him the advantage of overcoming one of the biggest commercial draws in sports.
Romero has always had a larger-than-life personality, but beating Ryan reinforced his belief that he was now the A-team’s attraction.
By demanding an equal split and a high-risk structure, Rolly is behaving like a man who believes he is the draw. Meanwhile, Haney is quick to point out that Rolly has never moved a needle on his own in the past.
Tomek Galm is a boxing journalist covering the global fight landscape since 2014, specializing in heavyweight analysis, industry trends and fighter psychology.