Which fighters earn the Highest Pay Per View Boxing Revenue?
Highest pay per view earners in boxing
One of the defining aspects of the culture of a region is sports, as much as it is music and the arts. Sport is significant because it captures the interest and imagination of the youth.
Interestingly enough, even today, not all professional sports are the same. Sports like football, basketball, or even wrestling are different from a sport like boxing. The sport of boxing, as awe-inspiring as it is, lacks unionization. This means there is no regulating body to support boxers and streamline their pay. In other words, the onus of negotiation lies not on any organization, but on the boxers themselves. This has resulted in their widespread exploitation by managers and promoters in the past.
Today, the Muhammad Ali Act has thankfully put an end to the exploitation. The boxers today are in a much better place. However, still there is a wide disparity between the pay of star players and average players. The top superstars in the world of boxing are massively overpaid when compared to the rising, up-and-coming fighters. There are a lot of factors that go into how much a boxer is getting paid in today’s world.
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How Do Professional Boxers Make Money?
When it comes to the amount of money professional boxers make, there are several factors involved. Some of the key factors are as follows:
- Popularity of the boxers
- Pay-Per-View figures
- Endorsement deals
- Frequency of fights
- Savvy negotiation tactics
More frequent fights and endorsements translate to more earnings. However, more popular boxers earn more money as more people pay to watch their fights. This is due to the Pay-Per-View (PPV) model where viewers pay to watch individual fights. The PPV events are telecast on television, as well as through webcast providers and even YouTube. The odds are high with many big sports betting sites offering to bet on boxers. Social media has made it easier as far as promotions are concerned.
Boxing Fights with Highest PPV Earns
There are a handful of fights that have been etched in history because of their remarkable draw in terms of PPV earned. Here we shall take a look at the top 10 of the highest-earning fights ever.
1] Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao
Date: 2nd May 2015; PPV figures: 4.6 million
2] Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor
Date: 26th August 2017; PPV figures: 4.3 million
3] Floyd Mayweather vs Oscar De La Hoya
Date: 5th May 2007; PPV figures: 2.48 million
4] Floyd Mayweather vs Canelo Alvarez
Date: 14th September 2013; PPV figures: 2.2 million
5] Mike Tyson vs Evander Holyfield
Date: 28th June 1997; PPV figures: 1.99 million
6] Mike Tyson vs Lennox Lewis
Date: 8th June 2022; PPV figures: 1.97 million
7] Mike Tyson vs Peter Mc Neeley
Date: 19th August 1995; PPV figures: 1.55 million
8] Floyd Mayweather Miguel Cotto
Date: 5th May 2012; PPV figures: 1.5 million
9] Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jr
Date: 29th November 2020; PPV figures: 1.65 million
10] Evander Holyfield vs George Foreman
Date: 19th April 1991; PPV figures: 1.45 million
Floyd Mayweather – Top Earner
The list above of the top fights in terms of PPV earnings shows Floyd Mayweather as the undisputed king. He created the hype and ensured he profited to the maximum extent possible. The audience was eager to pay and watch his fights, making him immensely popular. The boxing legend had a contract of $450 million, the most expensive ever. He retired from professional boxing in August 2017 at the age of 38.
Mike Tyson was a close second in terms of the number of fights with high PPV earnings. He is hailed as one of the greatest boxing legends with a net worth of $15 million. He is the youngest heavyweight champion the sport has ever witnessed. He has been featured in the Top Boxers lists by The Ring and ESPN. He rightfully finds his place in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
New Names Coming to the Fore
The world of boxing is witnessing the emergence of new stars. They are taking the ring by storm and Anthony Joshua is one such name. World Champion Anthony Joshua is a British professional boxer who needs no introduction. He started his career in 2007 and his agreement with Dazn and Matchroom earned him $1 billion. His upcoming fight in August 2022 with Oleksander Usyk is a highly anticipated one. Usyk is odds-on at 1/2, on sports betting sites, to defeat Joshua, while the latter is 7/4 to defeat Usyk.
The Sport Will Continue to Grow
Like every other sport, endorsements add to the earnings of the boxing champions in a big way. So, the top earners in the sport of boxing are not just defined by the PPV earned from their fights. The remarkable disparity in the earnings of the big names and the average boxers is one of the concerns of the sport. However, with bigger promotions and more sponsors, the future looks promising.
The world is more aware of the sport of boxing than ever before. The cross-promotional events have surely added a lot of new audiences to the sport. Youtube X Boxing is currently the biggest thing happening to the sport of boxing where an audience that has never been into combat sports has started tuning in to watch the sport purely because their favorite celebrity decided to feature inside the boxing ring.
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Prateek Athanur
(2944 Articles Published)