‘Superfly’ fight card purses: Chocolatito $600,000, Sor Rungvisai $170,000

HBO Boxing returns tonight (Saturday, September 9th) with a fantastic tripleheader of fights, dubbed “Superfly” because all of the matchups are out of the super-flyweight (115 lbs) division. The main event sees WBC champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (43-4-1, 39 KOs) vs. Roman Gonzalez (46-1, 38 KOs) in a rematch of their fantastic March encounter, which saw Sor Rungvisai pull off the upset and hand Gonzalez his first defeat as a professional.

Also on tap is the US debut of Japan’s Naoya Inoue (13-0, 11 KOs), who is the WBO champion and is arguably one of the top pound-for-pound boxers on the planet. His title defense will be against Antonio Nieves (17-1-2, 9 KOs), who is a heavy underdog looking to “shock the world” as he claims. The night’s televised action begins with Mexicans Carlos Cuadras (36-1-1, 27 KOs) and Juan Francisco Estrada (35-2, 25 KOs) squaring off in a WBC title eliminator, meaning the winner will most likely fight the winner of Sor Rungvisai vs. Gonzalez.

While the lighter weight classes (118 lbs and below) may be popular in other parts of the world, it’s only now gaining enough traction to command some major television time in the US, let alone an entire event centered around it. Chocolatito’s presence on Gennady Golovkin undercards has definitely been a major boost, to say the least.

With this K2 Promotions card taking place at StubHub Center in Carson, California, ESPN’s Dan Rafael has got the fighter purses for Saturday’s card:

Srisaket Sor Rungvisai: $170,000
Roman Gonzalez: $600,000

Naoya Inoue: $182,500
Antonio Nieves: $35,000

Carlos Cuadras: $62,500
Juan Carlos Estrada: $65,000

No details on the off-TV undercard were released, so we don’t know the purse for former UFC fighter Nam Phan, who is taking on Nick Frese in a four-round bout at welterweight (147 lbs).

For Gonzalez-Rungvisai I, Gonzalez received a career-high $550,000 purse, while Sor Rungvisai was just $75,000. Both men get increases for the rematch, and Sor Rungvisai has more than doubled his payday for tonight, albeit as a clear B-side despite being the champion.

“Superfly” airs live on HBO at 10:15 PM ET/PT.