Boxing

Canelo Alvarez Plummets Below 2 Peers In World’s Highest-Paid Athletes Ranking

Canelo Alvarez will not like seeing how much he fell in terms of the world's highest-paid boxers.
Grant Young|
Saul "Canelo" Alvarez weighs in on September 29, 2023.
Saul "Canelo" Alvarez weighs in on September 29, 2023. | IMAGO / Hoganphotos

Ever since Floyd "Money" Mayweather retired from professional boxing, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez has taken his place as the sport's highest-paid superstar. This is proven by Canelo being listed as boxing's highest-paid fighter every year since 2021. In 2023, Canelo made $66 million, while the boxer who made the second-most was Anthony Joshua, bringing in $55 million.

However, things changed in a major way in 2024. This was revealed in a May 15 article from Forbes who released the world’s 50 highest-paid athletes.

The list revealed that English heavyweight Tyson Fury was the highest-paid boxer in the world, having made a whopping $146 million in 2024. This made him the No. 3 highest-paid athlete overall, only behind soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo (who earned $275 million) and basketball icon Steph Curry (who earned $156 million).

The next boxer on this list is Ukrainian heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, whose earnings of $101 million put him at No. 12 overall. As for Canelo, he was at No. 22 on the list, having made $80 million.

The reason for this shift among the world's highest-paid boxers is that Fury and Usyk fought each other twice for the heavyweight title in 2024, with both earning staggering purses for each. While Canelo also fought twice last year, his bouts not being nearly as high-profile caused him to plummet below his two heavyweight peers in terms of money made.

However, Canelo signed a four-fight deal with Turki Alalshikh earlier this year that is reportedly giving him about $100 million per fight. He has already completed one of these bouts earlier this month, with a second coming against Terence Crawford in September.

And because Fury and Usyk are done fighting each other, there's no doubt Canelo will be boxing's highest-paid athlete once this Forbes list releases next year.

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Published
Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Boxing, New York Mets, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.