The top 10 richest boxers in the world includes a name nobody expected
- Joe Hewlett
- 13 July 2022
Prizefighting has become the epitome of boxing and it is one of the main reasons why fights happen or not.
In January we saw a record-breaking purse bid of £31million from Frank Warren's Queensbury Promotions to stage Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte.
Fury guaranteed himself 80% of the purse alongside an additional £3.1million for beating Whyte.
With elite boxers earning more money than ever, Planet Sport takes a look at the top 10 richest people in boxing.
10) Wladimir Klitschko
Net worth: £58million
Ruling the heavyweight division for 15 years has led Klitschko to making the top ten.
After the Ukrainian's loss to Lamon Brewster in 2004, Klitschko remained unbeaten for 11 years until his loss to Tyson Fury.
It was the fight against Fury as well as his final career bout against Anthony Joshua that saw the former WBA, IBF and WBO champion earn career high paydays.
Since retiring, Klitschko along with his brother, Vitali, have been valiantly fighting in the War for Ukraine.
9) Anthony Joshua
Net worth: £60million
After bursting onto the scene by winning gold at the London Olympics, Anthony Joshua has become Britain's biggest pay-per-view star.
The highest payday of 'AJ's career came in 2019 during his rematch against Andy Ruiz Jr, where the Brit reportedly pocketed £66million.
With big fights still to be made in the heavyweight division such as the scheduled rematch bout with Usyk as well as potential future bouts against Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder, we could see Joshua soon surge up closer to the top of the list.
8) Sugar Ray Leonard
Net worth: £88million
Known as one of the Four Kings, Leonard won world titles in five divisions from welterweight to super middleweight, alongside a gold medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympic games to add to his achievements.
The American picked up many big paydays against Marvin Hagler, Donny Lalonde, and Thomas Hearns.
But the biggest purse of Leonard's career came in his trilogy fight with Roberto Duran in which he earnt $15million dollars.
7) Tyson Fury
Net worth: £100million
'The Gypsy King' earnt a career high payday against Dillian Whyte this April which saw him bring home a purse of £29.5million.
Other big purses have come from fights against Wladimir Klitschko alongside his trilogy series with Deontay Wilder.
Despite the retirement claims made by Fury, a return to the ring to fight for the undisputed heavyweight titles or a crossover bout against Francis Ngannou could help boost that net worth even further.
6) Lennox Lewis
Net worth: £103million
Lewis sits as the highest Brit on the list, with the help of his big money fights against Evander Holyfield, Shannon Briggs and Frank Bruno.
It's the Mike Tyson fight that generated him the most money with an estimated $112million being awarded to Lewis after the pay-per-view was bought nearly two million times - becoming the fifth most bought of all time.
Unlike many other heavyweights of that era, the last undisputed heavyweight champion hasn't been forced to make a return to the ring.
5) Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez
Net worth: £105million
The last boxer on the list who is still active within the professional code. Canelo has become the most marketable boxer on the planet.
With his fight against Floyd Mayweather being the most lucrative at 2.2 million PPV buys, bouts against Chavez and Golovkin have also propelled the net worth of the Mexican pound for pound star.
Since his loss to Dmitry Bivol, the potential rematch has become one of the most anticipated fights in boxing, and could become one of his highest earning fights since the bout with Mayweather in 2013.
4) Oscar De La Hoya
Net worth: £148million
Despite fighting in some of the biggest fights during his career such as Felix Trinidad and Bernard Hopkins, it was one of his last fights against Mayweather that saw 'The Golden Boy' earn his biggest payday of $52million.
De La Hoya - a former six-division world champion - has continued to earn his wealth in boxing by setting up his promotional company Golden Boy Promotions.
He previously promoted Canelo Alvarez and now works with Virgil Ortiz Jr, Jaime Munguia, Gilberto Ramirez and Ryan Garcia.
3) Manny Pacquiao
Net Worth: $163million
Like a few stars on this list, Pacquiao made his biggest payday while fighting Mayweather as the fight generated an astonishing $600million, as well as becoming the highest grossing PPV of all time.
The Filipino became the only man to become an eight-weight world champion, winning titles from flyweight all the way to light middleweight.
Pacquiao has since used his millions to forge a career in politics in his motherland of the Philippines.
2) George Foreman
Net worth: £222million
The 81-fight veteran finds himself the runner up on the list - he made $200million from his George Foreman grill alone.
Away from culinary items, Foreman has cemented himself as one of the greatest heavyweights to grace the ring, fighting the likes of Joe Frazier, Evander Holyfield, and Muhammad Ali.
Sitting as the richest heavyweight on the list, Foreman can continue grilling his steaks with a smile on his face.
1) Floyd Mayweather
Net worth: £400million
Who else was it going to be?
With the nickname 'Money' for a reason, Mayweather gave many of his opponents their biggest paydays as well as being involved in the top four most bought pay-per-views of all time.
It was Pacquaio who gave Floyd his largest payday however when he earnt $250million for fighting the Filipino in 2015.
Since retiring, Mayweather has continued making his money through exhibition bouts, recently fighting Youtuber Logan Paul.
