The Biggest Boxing Purses

The world of combat sports is renowned for its blockbuster fights and mind spinning pay-outs for the biggest names around. Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather didn’t earn his nickname for being undefeated, but for negotiating many of the biggest purses in history.

Those fighters at the top of their game have to make every fight count, only scheduling a few bouts a year to maximise the ROI for the toll their bodies go through before, during and after bouts. But which fights had the most on the line? Who’s always making bank? And who are some of history’s biggest earners?

To find out, Parimatch has analysed the biggest boxing purses through the decades, adjusting them for inflation, and laying the finances bare.

Boxing Purses By Weight Class

Key
Featherweight
Light Welterweight
Welterweight
Super Welterweight
Light Middleweight
Middleweight
Light Heavyweight
Crusierweight
Heavyweight
Catchweight
Hover over the individual fights to see more information
Tap the individual fights to see more information

Looking across 100 years of boxing, Parimatch explored some of the most iconic bouts from all corners that make up over £2 billion in adjusted purses.

The list contains fights from all eras with legends such as Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and Sugar Ray Leonard joining the roster, alongside more modern champions with the likes of Floyd Mayweather, Tyson Fury, and Anthony Joshua.

Additionally, the research includes exhibition and catchweight fights featuring competitors from the world of mixed martial arts and the emerging YouTuber scene with new wave superstars KSI, Logan Paul and Jake Paul all making their way to the ring. Bringing with them a much younger and newer audience to ringside.

While professional fights accumulate most of the collective prize monies across the eras, exhibition and non-sanctioned bouts are becoming increasingly popular, with purses totalling £262 million since 2018.

Welterweight championship fights were found to have the biggest boxing purses, with Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao in 2015 boasting the biggest purse in boxing history. However, only three Welterweight bouts made the list. Whereas the high paying heavyweight bouts occurred almost ten times as frequent.

The Cash Split of Professional vs Exhibition Fights from Boxing’s Biggest Purses

Professional
£1,985,163,252
Exhibition
£262,432,741

Boxing’s Top 5 Purses

1
Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao 2015
Welterweight
Inflation Value: £366,060,000
Purse value: £300,000,000
Inflation rise: 22.02%

It was a matchup between Filipino senator, Manny Paquiao, and celebrity strip club owner (and undefeated five-division world champion), Floyd Mayweather for the WBA, WBC, WBO and The Ring welterweight titles.

The ‘Fight of the Century’ took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada and was one of boxings biggest and most watched PPV spectacles. In PPV it brought in a whopping 4.4 million buys.

The fight lasted 12 rounds with Mayweather winning by unanimous decision. Pac Man banked his biggest career pay cheque taking £120 million of the £300 million, whilst the favourite Mayweather took home £180 million. Mayweather cemented his legacy as the greatest, and richest, boxer of all time.

2
Roberto Duran vs Sugar Ray Leonard II 1980
Welterweight
Inflation Value: £336,438,000
Purse value: £90,000,000
Inflation rise: 273.82%

Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Leonard fought twice in the space of five moths in 1980. Leonard losing his welterweight champion title to Duran in the first match. Leonard later claimed Duran’s insults had gotten into his head. One of Duran’s best one-liners were “I’m going to screw you, then I’m going to screw your wife”.

In the rematch, Leonard got his revenge by going heavily on the offensive. Leonard forced Duran to retire the match early by saying “No Más (No More)” in the seventh round. A third fight between the two occurred in 1989, labelled as ‘Uno Mas’, with Leonard winning by unanimous decision.

3
Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor 2017
Light Middleweight
Inflation Value: £154,219,000
Purse value: £130,000,000
Inflation rise: 18.63%

Both McGregor and Mayweather had been talking trash on twitter and begging for a fight for years. Mayweather officially came out of retirement to take on McGregor’s challenge. There hadn’t been this much excitement on the internet since Kim Kardashian’s tape was uploaded to Pornhub. Many were surprised that McGregor had good boxing technique. After McGregor managed to get a few hits in, Mayweather switched from defensive and went psycho in the 10th round. The referee eventually stepped to protect McGregor. The bout was a huge PPV success with 4.3 million buys with both boxing and MMA fans alike tuning in the watch the historic event.

4
Mike Tyson vs Holyfield II 1997
Heavyweight
Inflation Value: £153,671,500
Purse value: £85,000,000
Inflation rise: 80.79%

One of boxings most memorable bouts, although not for the fight itself. After Holyfield defeated Tyson and became the WBA heavyweight champ, Tyson sought revenge at a rematch.

Unfortunately, Tyson had bitten off more than he could chew as Holyfield began dominating the match and won every round. During the third round, Tyson bit a chunk out of Holyfield’s ear and spat it on the ground. The fight was halted, Tyson was disqualified, and Holyfield retained the title. Tyson made £30 million from the fight purse but was ordered to pay £3 million of that in fines. Holyfield collected £33 million but lost half an ear.

5
Logan Paul vs Floyd Mayweather 2021
Catchweight
Inflation Value: £76,958,000
Purse value: £70,000,000
Inflation rise: 9.94%

One of the internet’s most punchable faces, Logan Paul, stepped into the ring to face undefeated world champion, Floyd Mayweather. Paul’s key strength was his height and weight. He was nearly 40 lbs heavier and 7 inches taller than Mayweather. It looked like a freakshow where one tiny man tried to fight a giant. Paul survived all 8 rounds but with no judges or scorecards being used, no winner was announced. Logan Paul made $20 million while Mayweather made another $100 Million.

Master Table

Fights Class Year Purse Value Inflation % Value After Inflation Bout Type Social?
Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao Welterweight 2015 £300,000,000 22.02% £366,060,000 Professional N
Mayweather vs Conor McGregor Light Middleweight 2017 £130,000,000 18.63% £154,219,000 Professional N
Roberto Duran vs Sugar Ray Leonard II Welterweight 1980 £90,000,000 273.82% £336,438,000 Professional N
Mike Tyson vs Holyfield 2 Heavyweight 1997 £85,000,000 80.79% £153,671,500 Professional N
Logan Paul vs Floyd Mayweather Catchweight 2021 £70,000,000 9.94% £76,958,000 Exhibition Y
Logan Paul vs Floyd Mayweather Catchweight 2021 £70,000,000 9.94% £76,958,000 Exhibition N
Jake Paul vs Nate Robinson Crusierweight 2020 £60,000,000 11.43% £66,858,000 Exhibition Y
Larry Holmes vs Gerry Cooney Heavyweight 1982 £50,000,000 205.02% £152,510,000 Professional N
Mayweather vs Saul Canelo Alvarez Light Middleweight 2013 £45,000,000 25.16% £56,322,000 Professional N
Anthony Joshua v Alexander Povetkin Heavyweight 2018 £32,000,000 15.92% £37,094,400 Professional N
Anthony Joshua v Wladimir Klitschko Heavyweight 2017 £30,000,000 18.37% £35,511,000 Professional N
Oscar De La Hoya vs Felix Trinidad Welterweight 1999 £29,500,000 74.95% £51,610,250 Professional N
Wladimir Klitschko vs Tyson Fury Heavyweight 2017 £25,780,000 18.63% £30,582,814 Professional N
Mike Tyson vs Bruce Seldon Heavyweight 1996 £20,000,000 86.79% £37,358,000 Professional N
Anthony Joshua v Joseph Parker Heavyweight 2018 £18,000,000 15.92% £20,865,600 Professional N
Oleksandr Usyk vs Anthony Joshua Heavyweight 2021 £17,700,000 9.69% £19,415,130 Professional N
Ricky Hatton vs Floyd Mayweather Cruiserweight 2007 £17,000,000 42.08% £24,153,600 Professional N
Logan Paul vs KSI Crusierweight 2019 £15,000,000 13.74% £17,061,000 Exhibition Y
Sugar Ray Leonard vs Thomas Hearns Heavyweight 1981 £13,000,000 232.23% £43,189,900 Professional N
Anthony Joshua v Charles Martin Heavyweight 2016 £10,800,000 21.1% £13,078,800 Professional N
Lennox Lewis vs Mike Tyson Heavyweight 2002 £10,000,000 62.64% £16,264,000 Professional N
Bryce Hall vs Austin McBroom Crusierweight 2021 £10,000,000 9.94% £10,994,000 Exhibition Y
David Haye vs Tony Bellew Cruiserweight 2017 £9,023,000 18.63% £10,703,985 Professional N
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Tenshin Nasukawa Welterweight 2018 £9,000,000 16.19% £10,457,100 Professional N
Riddick Bowe vs Evander Holyfield Heavyweight 1992 £8,000,000 107.91% £16,632,800 Professional N
Mayweather vs Oscar de la Hoya Super Welterweight 2007 £7,700,000 42.4% £10,964,800 Professional N
Jake Paul vs Tyrone Woodley Crusierweight 2021 £7,000,000 9.94% £7,695,800 Exhibition Y
Muhammed Ali vs Joe Frazier Heavyweight 1975 £6,500,000 452.43% £35,907,950 Professional N
Muhammed Ali vs Antonio Inoki Heavyweight 1976 £6,000,000 417.74% £31,064,400 Professional N
David Haye vs. Derek Chisora Heavyweight 2012 £4,740,000 17.2% £5,555,280 Professional N
Jake Paul vs Deji Olatunji Crusierweight 2018 £3,015,775 15.92% £3,495,886 Exhibition Y
Evander Holyfield vs Mike Tyson Heavyweight 1997 £3,000,000 81.19% £5,435,700 Professional N
Larry Holmes vs Ken Norton Heavyweight 1997 £2,600,000 80.79% £4,700,540 Professional N
Muhammed Ali vs Joe Frazier Light Heavyweight 1971 £2,500,000 620.7% £18,017,500 Professional N
Joe frazier vs George foreman Heavyweight 1976 £2,000,000 416.58% £10,331,600 Professional N
Jack Dempsey vs Gene Tunney Heavyweight 1927 £1,447,500 976.34% £21,686,111 Professional N
Julio Cesar Chavez vs Meldrick Taylor Light Welterweight 1990 £1,400,000 127.37% £3,183,180 Professional N
Salvador Sanchez vs Wilfredo Gomez Featherweight 1981 £1,250,000 232.23% £4,152,875 Professional N
Jake Paul vs Ben Askren Crusierweight 2021 £1,190,000 9.94% £1,308,286 Exhibition Y
Jake Pual vs AnEsonGib Crusierweight 2020 £962,775 11.43% £1,072,820 Exhibition Y
Iran Barkley vs Roberto Duran Middleweight 1989 £825,000 137.94% £1,963,005 Professional N
Jack Dempsey vs Georges Carpentier Heavyweight 1921 £500,000 976.34% £7,281,642 Professional N
Eddie Hall vs Thor Heavyweight 2022 £200,000 0% £200,000 Professional N
Rocky Marciano vs Joe Louis Crusierweight 1951 £176,000 973.92% £1,890,099 Professional N
KSI vs Joe Weller Crusierweight 2018 £26,698 15.92% £30,948 Exhibition Y

About the Data:

The top 45 boxing purses of the past 100 years were identified, were divided by weight-class, and adjusted for inflation. Both professional boxing matches and exhibition matches were analysed in the study.