Luis Alberto Lopez will put his IBF Featherweight championship on the line in a mandatory defense against Reiya Abe, who could become Japan’s 100th world champion. Here is what we know about the potential Lopez vs Abe purse.
Boxing Fighter Pay: How Much Will Lopez vs Abe Be Paid in New York?
Before we start, we have to give you a short background of each fighter. This way, we can make a more confident prediction about their purses.
Luis Alberto Lopez Preview
Luis Lopez began his professional career in 2015 but it took a while before he reached the top. His title-winning match was his 29th professional bout. “El Venado” defeated Englishman Josh Warrington (split decision) in December 2022 to win the IBF championship title and then he carried out two successful defenses.
First, the Mexican defeated Michael Conlan (technical knockout, fifth round), and in September 2023, he defeated Joet Gonzalez (unanimous decision). The 30-year-old Lopez has 29 wins (16 by knockout) and two losses. El Venado has been performing professionally since 2015.
Reiya Abe Preview
Across the ring is another 30-year-old boxer but with a completely different career path. Reiya Abe has been a professional since 2013 and had 29 fights in 10 years. The important fact here is that this will be his debut outside Japan. He had all his fights in Japan.
Reiya Abe holds the WBO Asia Pacific title. He defeated his compatriot Hinata Maruta (unanimous decision) in May 2022 to win the championship belt. After that, he had two more successful fights.
First, the boxer from Fukushima defeated his compatriot Jinki Maeda (majority decision), and in April 2023, the former IBF champion, 37-year-old Kiko Martinez. The 30-year-old Abe has 25 wins (ten by knockout), three losses, and one draw.
Lopez vs Abe Purse Prediction
Finding valid data about Reiya Abe’s previous earnings is practically impossible. This will be his first international appearance and even in America and Europe, boxing contracts are typically kept secret. Therefore, we will first look at Lopez’s earnings and make our prediction based on his numbers.
Lopez cemented his name in history with his triumph for the IBF Featherweight title in December 2022. When he faced Josh Warrington, he was reportedly paid around $300,000 as a guaranteed purse. He went on to earn an extra $625,000 from PPV but this bonus is not to be considered here.
Since then, he made a couple of title defenses and as the champion, he made more money. Reports indicate that he bagged at least $500,000 from his match with Michael Conlan. There is no reliable data about his purse from the last defense against Joet Gonzalez but we can guarantee that it was not less than half a million.
For this match, we expect the sum to be higher than that. How about $600,000+? From our experience, we can confidently say that purse bids for title matches in this weight class are often more than a million in total. Assuming that the numbers are similar here, we believe that the Lopez vs Abe purse will be split at 65/35 and the individual guaranteed purses could be $650,000 to $350,000.
