Tyson Fury Beats Conor McGregor Amongst the Highest-Paid Fighters in the World

Forbes released its list of highest-grossing athletes for the year 2019-20. WBC Heavyweight champ Tyson Fury has surpassed Conor McGregor to become the highest-paid combat athlete. Fury ranked in at No. 11 in the list that was topped by the 20-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer. The list was made by calculating the earnings between 1 June 2019 to 1 June 2020. The top 20 positions contain several other combat athletes as well.

Fury pocketed a total of $57 million. Out of this, $50 million came from three of his fights. He fought Otto Wallin and Tom Schwarz in 2019. However, the big payday came when he went against Deontay Wilder in February earlier this year. Apart from his earnings from fighting, Fury earned $7 million from advertisements.

Fury’s possible future opponent Anthony Joshua landed on the 19th spot on the list with an earning of $47 million. Fury plans on unifying the Heavyweight belts by defeating Joshua in the future. However, he has to first get past Deontay Wilder in their trilogy. “The Bronze Bomber” was just a step behind Joshua in the rankings. His total earning was $46.5 million.

Canelo Alvarez, despite being billed as the highest-paid active boxer, came in at the 30th spot. This was because he only fought once during the specified duration. His massive 11-fight $365 million deal with DAZN allows him to cash-in $35 million for every visit to the ring. He earned another $2 million from advertisements.

However, if we consider the per fight income of the fighters, Alvarez is the highest-paid fighter on the list. Tyson Fury, on the other hand, makes less than half the amount made by the Mexican for every fight.

Conor McGregor made more money than Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder

“The Notorious One” is famous for his ability to pull the crowd. He has set high standards in terms of fighter’s pay in the UFC. Despite fighting only once against Donald Cerrone in the specified time, Conor McGregor took home $32 million. His earnings from advertisements were $16 million, taking his total income to a whopping $48 million. This earned him the 16th spot on the list.

McGregor had intended for the year 2020 to be a season for him. However, the pandemic has played a spoiler for his plans. Currently living in Ireland, the only way for McGregor to return to the Octagon is if Dana White’s Fight Island commences its operation.

Just like McGregor, the income of all the fighters has taken a slight bump due to no professional sports for the past two and a half months. Moreover, Coronavirus will likely prevent massive shows from happening for quite some time. This means that the payday for the next year will also be significantly reduced.