Biggest Boxing Purses of All Time: Top 10 Paydays Ranked

The Bite Fight. June 28, 1997 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Holyfield won by disqualification in the third round after Tyson bit him twice, and the whole thing became the most famous ending in heavyweight history.

Holyfield was paid $35 million and Tyson $30 million, which made it the richest fight ever at the time. It did 1.99 million pay-per-view buys and about $180 million in total revenue, with a gate just under $16.9 million that stood as the Nevada record for a decade.

Nearly thirty years later, those numbers still hold up against most modern mega fights. That tells you how big Tyson was.

November 15, 2024 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, live on Netflix. Paul beat a 58-year-old Tyson by unanimous decision over eight two-minute rounds, with scores of 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73. It was a sloppy fight and a massive business.

Purses were never officially disclosed. CBS News reported Paul at $40 million and Tyson at $20 million. The gate came in at $18.1 million, and Netflix said the fight peaked at 65 million concurrent households, which is a number no pay-per-view has ever come close to.

Put the fight itself aside. A YouTuber out-earned Holyfield's record payday from 1997 for a glorified exhibition. That is the state of the business.

September 14, 2013, MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mayweather gave a 23-year-old Canelo a boxing lesson and won a majority decision, 114-114, 116-112 and 117-111. The 114-114 card from C.J. Ross was so bad she stepped away from judging right after.

Mayweather's guarantee was $41.5 million, Canelo's $12 million. The fight did an estimated 2.2 million buys and about $150 million in pay-per-view revenue, a record at the time, and set the Nevada live gate record with 16,746 sold.

This was the night Canelo learned what the top of the sport looked like. He took the lesson well. Twelve years later he was the one cashing the nine-figure check.

March 8, 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on a Riyadh Season card. Joshua knocked the former UFC heavyweight champion out cold in the second round, five months after Ngannou had dropped Tyson Fury and lost a split decision.

Nothing was disclosed, as is the rule for Saudi shows. Forbes reported Joshua at $50 million and Ngannou at $20 million, $70 million guaranteed between them and funded by the Public Investment Fund. Ngannou's agent would only confirm a figure north of $10 million.

Two fights in boxing earned Ngannou more than his entire UFC career. That is why the UFC heavyweight division lost him.

May 5, 2007, MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mayweather took a split decision, 115-113 and 116-112 against one 115-113 card for De La Hoya, and walked away with the WBC junior middleweight title.

De La Hoya's $52 million purse was a record at the time, with Mayweather on $25 million. The fight did 2.4 million buys and about $136 million in pay-per-view revenue, plus a gate over $19 million, and for eight years it was the biggest boxing event ever.

The Golden Boy made the money. The other guy made the blueprint. Mayweather spent the next decade copying this promotion and cashing bigger checks each time.

December 21, 2024, Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. Usyk beat Fury again, this time with no argument, 116-112 on all three cards.

The total purse was reported at roughly $190 million, about £150 million. Nobody has confirmed the split. Usyk's promoter Alexander Krassyuk said there was no specific distribution, and speculation that Usyk took 55 or 60 percent was denied. Even at a straight half, each man cleared $95 million.

Ranking an undisclosed split is a judgment call. I put it here because the pot is the second biggest ever reported, and neither fighter is going to correct the record.

May 18, 2024, Kingdom Arena, Riyadh. The first undisputed heavyweight fight of the four-belt era. Usyk hurt Fury badly in the ninth, got a standing count out of it, and won a split decision, 115-112 and 114-113 against a 113-114 card.

The purse was reported at about $150 million total, split 70-30 in Fury's favor, which puts Fury at $105 million and Usyk at $45 million. The fight did more than 1.5 million buys, mostly in the UK, but total revenue was reported around $93 million against roughly $120 million in costs. The Saudis ate the loss on purpose.

Fury lost the fight and still took the fourth biggest payday in boxing history. Nice work if you can get it.

September 13, 2025, Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, promoted by Riyadh Season and Dana White's Zuffa Boxing and streamed free on Netflix. Crawford moved up two divisions and won a unanimous decision to become undisputed at 168, his third undisputed title.

Canelo's purse was widely reported at $150 million. Turki Alalshikh said it was "more than" $100 million and Dana White said "probably" $100 million, so take the range. Crawford is the strange part. Reports before the fight had him up to $50 million, then he said on Ring Champs that he got $10 million. The gate was $47.2 million, third biggest ever, from 70,482 people, and Netflix reported a 41.4 million average audience.

I was in the building. Crawford beat the biggest star in the sport and got paid like the B-side. Bet on him getting that fixed next time.

August 26, 2017, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas. Mayweather let McGregor have the early rounds, then wore him out and stopped him in the tenth. It was exactly what anyone who respects boxing expected, and it did not matter one bit to the business.

This is the biggest official number on the list. The Nevada State Athletic Commission disclosed guarantees of $100 million for Mayweather and $30 million for McGregor. Both were expected to triple that from pay-per-view and gate, and DAZN later estimated Mayweather's take at about £223 million. The fight did roughly 4.4 million domestic buys with a $55 million gate.

A guy with zero pro boxing fights earned $30 million guaranteed. Every boxer who ever took $10,000 for a ten-rounder should be furious, and most of them are.

May 2, 2015, MGM Grand Garden Arena. Five years late, and the fight was a snooze. Mayweather won a wide unanimous decision, Pacquiao said his shoulder was hurt, and everyone who paid $100 felt it.

The money was never boring. ESPN reported Mayweather earned about $250 million and Pacquiao more than $120 million under a 60-40 split. The fight did more than 4.4 million domestic buys, over $400 million in pay-per-view revenue, and a $72.2 million gate from 16,219 tickets, all records that still stand. Total gross has been estimated around $600 million.

The planned rematch for September 2026 on Netflix was postponed indefinitely in June. Even the sequel that did not happen had Mayweather guaranteed $35 million in court filings. The man is the money list.