Boxing has been long known for its exorbitant winning purses. Recently, a comparison post showed the massive difference between the winning purses of two time world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.
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Ngannou defended and unified the UFC heavyweight championship by defeating Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 on 22 January. His well deserved decision win earned him a purse of $600,000.
Meanwhile, Fury defended his WBC and the Ring heavyweight titles against Dillian Whyte in a scintillating showdown on 23 April. However, his final purse was worth a staggering $33.6 million.
Fury’s earnings were 56x that of Ngannou, showing the mind blowing pay gap for the athletes of both the combat sports.
The biggest Purses in boxing
The sport of boxing has given fat paychecks to many fighters. This has, in fact, made boxers some of the highest paid athletes in the world.
Evander Holyfield faced Mike Tyson for their rematch in 1997. The bout was one of the most expensive fights at that time. However, this was overshadowed by the infamous ear bite incident, where Tyson bit off a part of Holyfield‘s right ear.
The fight earned Holyfield a purse of $36.9 million and Tyson, a purse of $31.5 million. However, Tyson was fined $3 million plus legal fees for biting Holyfield’s ear.
Talking about fight purses will be fragmentary without talking about the poster child of fight purse, Floyd Mayweather Jr. He faced UFC champion Conor McGregor for the highly anticipated ‘Money Fight’ in 2017.
McGregor was paid $90.9 million for the fight, while Mayweather earned a staggering $290.9 million
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The most expensive fight in the history of boxing was the ‘Fight of the Century’, where Mayweather faced Manny Pacquiao in 2015. The fight, which was also billed as the ‘Battle for Greatness’, took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada.
It was so highly anticipated that it sold over 4,6 million PPV subscriptions. Pacquiao earned $158.8 million from the fight, while Mayweather’s earnings were $290.9 million.
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What do you think of the fight purse difference? Let us know in the comments below.