Highest Paid Boxers of 2020

The year 2020 has been an unprecedented calendar for boxing. While the sport had to take it down a notch owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, it managed to find its way back to normalcy by the end of the year, albeit without the fans.

That said, boxing promoters didn’t rule out the expected blockbuster events and pulled them off behind the closed doors. Since live fan attendances were mostly banned in those events, Gate Sales suffered a significant blow.

However, the promoters still amassed enormous amounts, and some A-listed boxers need the credit for that. Despite having a complicated year, several pugilists earned enormous pay-checks.

As we inch closer to 2021, here are the highest-paid boxers of 2020.

Tyson Fury

COVID-19 was still to prevent fan attendances when Tyson Fury knocked the WBC heavyweight title out of Deontay Wilder in February.

It was Wilder’s maiden loss in the professional run and one of the biggest wins in Fury’s career. According to Forbes, ‘The Gypsy King’ took an estimated amount of $26 million alongside the WBC strap home. Meanwhile, Fury’s book ‘Behind the Mask and ‘The Furious Method’ has also been top-sellers this year.

Mike Tyson

2020 became more iconic when former world champions Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. pressed pause on their retirements to fight each other in an exhibition clash on November 28. The fight took place in an empty Staples Center, but PPV records made it one of the biggest nights in boxing.

Tyson reportedly bagged $10 million from the fight and also earned a special WBC title. Despite being an inactive veteran, ‘Iron Mike’ earned an enormous amount compared to the other active boxers.

Canelo Alvarez

Coming off of a massive contractual rigmarole with Golden Boy Promotions, free-agent Canelo Alvarez earned a decent amount with just one fight in 2020.

He became the WBA, WBC and Ring super middleweight titleholder by beating Callum Smith via decision on December 19th.

Apart from that, he reportedly earned $20 million. Although it’s less than his $35 million fight contract with DAZN, Alvarez still bagged lucrative amount for himself.

Anthony Joshua

The unified heavyweight champion ended his KO draught by stopping Kubrat Pulev in the 9th round of their most recent fight. It was a huge win for Anthony Joshua, paving the way to a title unification matchup against WBC champion Tyson Fury.

Exact fight purse figures haven’t been disclosed, but Telegraph cites Joshua’s earning to be around $10 million in the fight. It wasn’t a huge number compared to his past fights.

Vasyl Lomachenko

Despite losing his unified titles to a 23-year-old Teofimo Lopez, ‘The Matrix’ still outclassed his adversary in terms of money. CBS claims Lopez took $1.5 million from the fight, and promoters promised Lomachenko somewhere around $3,5 million.

However, due to pay-cuts and other financial turmoil, the Ukrainian took a reported $3.25 million. There were no gate sales, else the numbers would have most certainly gone through the roof. But Lomachenko bagged a whopping amount.

2021 can possibly bring back fans into its initial form as ‘AJ vs Pulev’ was held in front of a stacked Wembley Arena. It further validates more financial numbers into the sport.

Do you think 2020 was an enormous year for boxing?