Rumbling Preparation. Part 2.

It happened again this past Saturday Night.
In Brooklyn.
HBO aired one of its title fights.
And Michael Buffer was, as usual, the ring announcer.
I'd mentioned last time that I wondered if guys like Michael Buffer and Jimmy Lennon Jr.
made an actual living from uttering only a handful of words introducing the fights and announcing the results.
For Jimmy Lennon Jr., I'm still wondering.
For Michael Buffer, the mystery has been solved.
His entry over at Wikipedia indicates that he makes FIVE MILLION DOLLARS for an evenings
work.
This would seem to preclude the need for any kind of day job.
Why does he make FIVE MILLION DOLLARS for an evenings work?
Well, for one thing, he had the wisdom to patent the phrase "Let's Get Ready To Rumble!!"
And apparently this is worth it to the promoters of the fights and to HBO to pay him FIVE MILLION DOLLARS per event.
For "Let's Get Ready To Rumble!!"
And he only says it for the main event.
This comes out to A MILLION DOLLARS A WORD!
Seems a bit much, don't you think?
I mean, he's really good at his job, but really...FIVE MILLION DOLLARS?
For "Let's Get Ready To Rumble!!"?
Something's out of whack.
And with all this money going to Michael Buffer, this can't leave much for Jimmy Lennon Jr.
They're probably paying him in the dark.

I also had the same question about boxing referees.
I haven't the slightest idea if they make a living from this.
I know that baseball umpires make a decent if modest living from umpiring, as do basketball referees.
Football referees pretty much do it as a sideline.
But what about Boxing referees?
The closest I've ever come to first hand knowledge involves Hall of Fame referee Carlos Padilla Jr. He refereed tons of Championship fights.
Including the Ali-Frazier "Thrilla in Manila"
Some time after that fight, I was having dinner in the restaurant at the Union Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas.
I was finished with my meal, and the busboy, pushing his cart, came by to put my plates in the cart.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, it was Carlos Padilla Jr.
Either he was never paid much, or he blew it all at the crap tables.
But I'm pretty certain he didn't blow FIVE MILLION DOLLARS!

So I've now used the expression "Let's Get Ready To Rumble!!" four times in this article.
I hope it doesn't mean I owe Michael Buffer twenty million dollars.

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