During a video interview captured by Fight Hype, longtime trainer Vergil Hunter weighs in on the whole drama between Errol Spence and his trainer Derrick James splitting up over a dispute regarding trainer fees, and gives his take on why James should be paid appropriately, even without knowing the particulars of their agreement.
“Fighters got to understand that if this man has been with you from the root to the fruit, then that man should be compensated,” Hunter said. “You don’t let somebody come in and tell you ‘well, he’s not family.’ Well how many times has family been there? You don’t let somebody come in and say ‘he don’t deserve that, this is enough.’ How are you going to let somebody determine what is enough to pay the guy who’s been with you through thick and thin?
“So what they got to understand is that this is a write off for you. So if you don’t give it to the man who’s been there with you the whole time you’re going to give it to Uncle Sam for nothing. So you get to write that off. So you going to take away from the man that’s been there with you but you’re going to still pay Uncle Sam what you should’ve paid him, and then Derrick could’ve paid the taxes on what you paid him.
“If you don’t give it to the trainer and get the write off for somebody who’s been there for you and helped you, then you’re going to give it to Uncle Sam who never been one day in the gym with you at all, who never been on the journey with you, who never started with you, who never went to tournaments with you when you was amateurs, who didn’t go to the Olympics with you, then start up through the pro ranks with you, didn’t get that first championship belt with you…but you giving him a big cut of what you made.
“So I think if they looked at it from that perspective that fighters would tend to pay the trainers more fairly. Particularly when you’re coming off a loss, a lot of people putting blame on the trainers. Trainer is the first person that gets blamed when you come off a loss.
“With this man’s help, it put you in this position to make that kind of money. You can’t say it didn’t. He put you in a position; he sweated with you, he sacrificed with you, and he helped you make that kind of money, you didn’t do it by yourself.”