You have decide on a boxing club and a team of trainers to start you on your journey to the World Boxing Council Championship. You have to keep in mind, that you will be training at this gym, but whom will you hire to promote you and match your fights.

Most fighters do not think about this issue once they sign up with the club or trainers, they accept whoever is associated with that group. But let us be a careful.

As I have stated, most of the young fighters that email this website want to start a career in boxing, but they are not well known or they did a good job in the amateurs but nobody is beating down the doors to sign them up.

Before you go starry eyed about winning the world's title; lets take a good look at yourself. Did you just amble up from the couch looking at the pay-per-view fights with the encouragement from your friends and family to get in the fight game? How was your boxing career in the amateurs? Did you break even? Or did you feel that you lost a lot of SUCKER fights that you should have WON? Were the judges against you in a lot of those fights? Did your amateur trainer try to teach you techniques that just wasn't your style?

If any of those questions come up in your mind or in a conversation, then professional fighting on any pro level is not for you.

Your pro career should mean everything to you. Once you sign a contract with the trainer or club that you are comfortable with; you will have to trust them. If you join a team. Everyone has a part to play in order to reach the title and earn great paydays.

Some clubs may have good trainers, but they may not be aligning with good matchmakers and promoters. Before you sign up with the club, research matchmakers and promoters. Sign up with a promotional group that has a track record of putting their clients in the best position. Even if you are not a great fighter, you still want to get in the best position possible in fight promotions. For example, fights in large venues, fighting in under cards of contenders, and eventually fighting on television.

Hire a lawyer or advisor in the business to look out for you interest. You can contract with a good club associated with good promoters or you can sign up with a good club associated with bad promoters. After you complete your research, decide if you want the in-house promoter, matchmaker or sign with an organization outside of the club. Some clubs will not buy this. They may want you to sign up with their promoter/matchmaker. It is up to you to decide. But remember your promoter is just as important as the people who are training you. Some big time promoters may not want you to sign until your name gets a little bigger and you create an impressive track record, but still you may want them to keep you on their Rolodex as a substitute fighter.

Your hard work is going to decide how far you go and how many quality fights you will receive.

When negotiating your contact, make sure you and your lawyer exercises options in your contract with your trainer and promoter. Since you are just beginning, you may want to have voids in the contract due to certain injuries or situations. You may want to explore this with your lawyer or advisor. Think short term right now, you want to sign up for a few fights because you may decide that the fight game is not your cup of tea after your start fighting. Once you become better and establish an impressive fight record; you may want to extend the contract long term.

Sugar Ray Leonard was probably the first fighter that used this approach. He had his trainers and advisors, but he shopped around to find the best promoters/matchmakers who set up the best deals for him. Sugar Ray had a number of promoters and some of them were not fight people. Some notables that promoted and underwritten his fights were Bob Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots Football Team and Broadway show producer; Donald Trump, New York real estate developer and casino owner; Seth Abraham, Home Box Office (HBO); Don King, Don King Productions; Bob Arum, Top Rank Productions and he co-produced a few of his own fights.

This practice has past on to some of today's fighters, most notably, Roy Jones, Jr. who promoters and co-promotes his own fights.

This is good information to know, but as a fighter starting out, it is good for you to know that your fight expenses will come out of your purse. Up to one third will go to the promotion/management team and up to one tenth will go to the trainers and training expenses. It also depends on you. That is why careful negotiations before the contract is sign is important. Some managers or clubs may let you take up to 90%, if you are making very little money, so you can have a chance to grow financially.

Former Middleweight Champion, Marvin Hagler, had a humble start to his career. His purses were very small and he worked as a bricklayer to make ends meet. His managers let him keep his pay, they did not get paid in the beginning, but they knew he would develop into a world class fighter. As his reputation grew, his team gradually made arrangements to pay themselves too.

To conclude, before signing a fight contract with a boxing or any other professional fighting club, look at yourself and think about the career you will embark. It is not easy being a pro fighter. The career is hard on the body and mind. This may not be something you may want to stick with over the long haul. Before your sign up with professional fight organizations, search around for the ones that best suits your needs and take someone with you that knows the fight game and will advise you, for example, a lawyer or sports consultant. If possible, try to have your training, promotion and management personnel separate, often they will be one and the same in some organizations. But if they are separate, they may concentrate harder on their area of expertise to help you.

As always, GOOD LUCK in your fight career!