{"id":36799,"date":"2025-01-28T21:19:11","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T21:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/?p=36799"},"modified":"2025-01-28T21:20:22","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T21:20:22","slug":"top-5-biggest-boxing-purses-in-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/sports\/boxing\/top-5-biggest-boxing-purses-in-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 6 Biggest Boxing Purses in History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Photo by FMT, CC by 2.0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Big fights make for major box-office events these days with the sport&#8217;s top stars earning eyewatering sums whenever they enter the ring. Here are some of the biggest purses ever fought for in the pro boxing ranks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u00a3675m \u2013 Floyd Mayweather v Manny Pacquiao, May 2015<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"FIGHT OF THE CENTURY | Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao | ON THIS DAY FREE FIGHT\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/39zhhfMGNRk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They billed it the Fight of the Century or the Battle for Greatness but, sadly, a showdown almost six years in the making between two legends of the ring turned into something of an anti-climax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The contest in Las Vegas failed to match the hype \u2013 Mayweather won the welterweight scrap on points \u2013 but with &#8220;Money&#8221; taking over \u00a3200m out of the purse and Pacquiao pocketing well over \u00a3100m, it still turned into a lucrative hour&#8217;s work for the pair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u00a3660m \u2013 Floyd Mayweather v Conor McGregor, August 2017<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The only belt on the line for this Vegas dust-up was the Money Belt \u2013 made of alligator leather, 24-carat gold and encrusted with over 3,000 diamonds \u2013 as two codes collided for yet more preposterous bundles of cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Biggest Fight in Combat Sports History was this one&#8217;s understated working title, though even at the age of 40, Mayweather proved far too canny for MMA star McGregor, winning a tasty affair in the tenth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Floyd Mayweather Jr vs Conor McGregor - Highlights\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/91w2-Zs0XuU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u00a3190m \u2013 Floyd Mayweather v Oscar de la Hoya, May 2007<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s all about The Money \u2013 or at least this list of richest fights is. Mayweather has five of the most lucrative paydays in history but a special mention to this showdown with The Golden Boy from way back when.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Well, for once it wasn&#8217;t Mayweather banking the biggest cheque. De la Hoya was the pre-eminent name among the lighter weights back in the day, though Mayweather turned the tables in Vegas winning a classic on a split decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u00a3150m \u2013 Evander Holyfield v Mike Tyson, June 1997<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What began life as a fight hailed The Sound and The Fury, ended up being proclaimed The Bite Fight after one of the most bizarre world title bouts of all time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tyson was determined to get his teeth into Holyfield after losing to the same man a year earlier, though no one expected him to do it literally, with Iron Mike famously chewing a chunk out of the champ&#8217;s ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tyson was disqualified, lost his licence and was hit with a \u00a33m fine, small change out of the \u00a325m he made from the fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Mike Tyson vs Evander Holyfield II  1997 HD 1080\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Y_bkDbpS-vw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u00a3150m \u2013 Tyson Fury v Oleksandr Usyk 2, December 2024<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk met months after their first meeting and their reunion became one of the most well-compensated fights in the history of boxing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In their first fight, the purse was set at \u00a3105m, but for the rematch in Saudi Arabia, the purse inflated to a whopping \u00a3150m &#8211; a sweet \u00a345m more than the purse of the original.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Usyk won again, with the Ukrainian taking home an astonishing \u00a383m, while Fury made \u00a367m for the fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury 2 HIGHLIGHTS | ESPN Ringside\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PzkltpFwAlw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u00a3140m \u2013 Lennox Lewis v Mike Tyson, June 2002<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then-record pay-per-view sales added a few more noughts to the purse for these two giants of the ring, as they traded blows during a world title bout in Memphis back in 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lewis held all the belts, Tyson none, which guaranteed no end of spite from Iron Mike in the build-up to the contest, which turned into a cakewalk for the Briton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lewis had Tyson on the canvas in the fourth and left him there permanently in the eighth, with each man netting around \u00a315m apiece from a purse almost five times the amount.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo by FMT, CC by 2.0 Big fights make for major box-office events these days with the sport&#8217;s top stars earning eyewatering sums whenever they enter the ring. Here are some of the biggest purses ever fought for in the pro boxing ranks. \u00a3675m \u2013 Floyd Mayweather v Manny Pacquiao, May 2015 They billed it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":42334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-boxing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36799"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42336,"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36799\/revisions\/42336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}