Top 10 Richest Boxers in the World

Boxing is a fighting sport that involves individuals in a boxing ring throwing punches at each other for a specified length of time while wearing protective gloves and other safety equipment such as mouthguards and hand wraps that are commonly used to protect boxers from the ring. The three ringside judges, and the referee, for whatever reason, can all pronounce a winner if the opponent cannot continue. Of course, this comes with a fair share of injuries and defeats. However, while boxing can be a rough sport, there is no doubt that it is quite lucrative. As with most sports, the best in the business will see their abilities result in endless financial benefits. 

It's a sport that has grown in popularity considerably since its stated inception in the 16th century. Throughout history, many boxers have dominated the boxing scene and have made more than a moderate living in the boxing profession; Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, and Floyd Mayweather are just a few of the famous names who have graced the sport over the years. Even modern-day stars like Canelo Alvarez, Anthony Joshua, and Terence Crawford have left their marks on the sport. So, who are the wealthiest boxers that have graced the professional boxing scene? In this article, we will look at the 10 richest boxers in the world, based on their current net worth as of 2021.

10. Bernard Hopkins

Standing at number 10 on our list of the top 10 richest boxers in the world is Bernard Hopkins. Bernard Hopkins is a retired professional boxer who graced the boxing scene between 1998 and 2016. Nicknamed the "Executioner", Hopkins is considered one of the greatest and most successful boxers of the modern era, having held various championship titles across two different weight classes. He held the undisputed middleweight title for more than four years (2001 to 2005) and the lineal light heavyweight title for about a year (2011-2012). A victory over Oscar De La Hoya for the WBO championship title in 2004 made Hopkins an undisputed champion. He was also the first-ever male boxer to simultaneously hold world titles by all four major boxing sanctioning bodies. Hopkins won several awards, including “the best fighter of the year” in 2001 by The Ring Magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America. As of April 2021, Hopkins was ranked as the seventh greatest pound-for-pound boxer of all time. Furthermore, Hopkins holds the records for the oldest boxing champion, the most consecutive title defences in the middleweight division, and the longest-lasting middleweight title.

Hopkins ended his career with 55 wins out of 67 fights, 32 of which were knock-out victories.

9. Anthony Joshua

Anthony Joshua, also known as AJ, is a British professional boxer who is one of the biggest and most remarkable names in boxing today. Joshua is a two-time former unified world heavyweight champion of the IBF, IBO, WBO, and WBA (Super). He also held the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles from 2015 to 2016. Unlike many of the other boxers on our list, Joshua is still active. As an amateur, AJ won a silver medal when he represented England in the super-heavyweight division at the 2011 World Championships. He also won a gold medal for Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics. In light of these victories, AJ transitioned to the professional ranks and quickly made his name known. Since he started his professional boxing career, Joshua has gained several recognitions and won several titles. One of the first recognitions he gained in the professional world was the title of “Prospect of the Year” by The Ring Magazine. 

Joshua is currently ranked as the world's second-best active heavyweight and the sixth-best active boxer, pound for pound by Boxrec. So far, AJ has bagged 24 wins out of 26 fights with 22 Kos.

8. Vitali Klitschko

Vitali Klitschko is a former professional boxer as well as a Ukrainian politician. He is currently the Mayor of Kyiv and the Head of the Kyiv City State Administration. Klitschko won numerous world heavyweight championship titles during his heydays, including the WBO, The Ring Magazine, and WBC. Overall, he achieved victory against 15 opponents and defended against 12 challengers in the world heavyweight title fights. Interestingly, from 2006 until 2015, Klitschko and his younger brother Wladimir Klitschko (a multiple-time champion) dominated the heavyweight boxing sport. This period was dubbed the "Klitschko Era”. In 2011, Vitali alongside his brother entered the Guinness World Records as a pair of boxing siblings with the highest number of world heavyweight title bout victories. During his entire professional boxing days, Klitschko had exceptional ring dominance, which earned him a formidable knockout percentage of about 87%. Interestingly, Klitschko only ever experienced two losses, both of which were recorded as stoppages, which is why he is one of the two world heavyweight champions to have never lost a fight to knockout. Also, Klitschko is the only heavyweight champion to have reigned across three different decades and is also one of two heavyweight boxers in history to defend a world title after turning 40. 

When he announced his retirement in 2012, Klitschko remained the WBC heavyweight champion at 42, with 45 victories out of 47 fights.

7. Wladimir Klitschko

Next on our list of the top 10 richest boxers of all time is Wladimir Klitschko. The Brother of Vitali Klitschko, Wladimir Klitschko, is a former Ukrainian heavyweight professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2017. Interestingly, before he became a professional boxer, Klitschko represented Ukraine as an amateur at the 1996 Olympics, winning a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division. During his 2 decades career, Klitschko managed to establish himself as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time as he is a two-time world champion of the heavyweight championship title. At one time or the other, he has held the unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO, and the Ring Magazine titles. He was also once ranked as the number one pound-for-pound boxer. During his heydays, Klitschko held the record for the longest heavyweight championship reign of all time, holding the championship title for 4,382 days. Unfortunately, this long reign ended in 2015 when he lost to Tyson Fury. This was the first time he lost in over ten years. He lost again when he faced Antony Joshua. 

Wladimir officially ended his career and retired in 2017 with 64 wins in 69 fights. 53 of these 64 wins ended with a knockout.

6. Sugar Ray Leonard

Ray Charles Leonard, also commonly known as Sugar Ray Leonard, is a former American professional boxer. Leonard, widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, made his mark on the world stage by capturing the light-welterweight gold medal at the 1976 Olympics games. He went pro after that and managed to make his name known across the globe. Over the course of his 20 years career, Sugar Ray managed to bag championship titles in five different weight divisions, including Welterweight, Light middleweight, Middleweight, Super middleweight, and Light heavyweight. He also bagged lineal championships in three different weight divisions and the undisputed welterweight title. Sugar Ray also won many awards, including Boxer of the Year and a position in the top list of pound-for-pound all-time best. Leonard retired in 1984, but he soon came out of his retirement in 1987 to fight "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler for the World Boxing Council's middleweight title. That day, his victory in the ring was widely considered one of the greatest professional boxing matches of all time. 

When he finally took off the gloves in 1997, Sugar Ray Leonard had achieved 36 victories out of 40 fights with 25 knockouts.

5. Lennox Lewis

Lennox Lewis is a professional British/Canadian professional boxer. He competed from 1989 to 2003, and during this time became a three-time world heavyweight champion and a two-time lineal champion. Lewis was also the last undisputed heavyweight champion after having unified the WBA, WBC, and IBF titles in April of 2000. Lewis started his journey towards going pro when he represented Canada as an amateur at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics. In the 1988 Olympics, he won a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division and went pro after that. In the first three years of Lewis' professional boxing career, he won many regional heavyweight championships in his region. This included the European, British, and Commonwealth titles. He quickly rose in ranks in the boxing scene, and he was undefeated in his first twenty-two professional fights. Interestingly, Lewis was the first world heavyweight titleholder from Britain in the 20th century. In 2002, Lewis achieved victory against Mike Tyson in what many call one of the most anticipated matches of all time. 

Many consider Lewis one of the best heavyweight boxers of all time and one of history's greatest British fighters.

4. Oscar De La Hoya

Oscar De La Hoya is a former American professional boxer of Mexican descent who competed in the professional boxing scene between 1992 and 2009. Oscar is from a boxing family, which naturally made him interested in the profession. As a 15-year-old boy, Oscar won the national Junior Olympics. Shortly after graduating high school, he surprisingly brought home a gold medal from the 1992 Olympics games at Barcelona, where he got the nickname, “The Golden Boy of boxing”. Oscar achieved an impressive 234 wins during his amateur career, 163 of which were by knockout, with only six losses. He finally transitioned into the professional boxing scene when he made his debut by scoring a first-round knockout victory. Oscar bagged his first championship title in 1994 when he won the World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior lightweight championship. In 1995, he won the junior lightweight championship title of the International Boxing Federation (IBF). This trend continued, and when he was 28, Oscar De La Hoya became the youngest boxer to have won five world titles. Interestingly, Oscar competed in six different weight classes, including super featherweight, lightweight, light welterweight, welterweight, light middleweight, and middleweight.

After retiring from his 16-years long boxing career, Oscar transitioned into a successful career as a boxing promoter. The end of his career recorded 39 victories out of 45 fights, of which 30 ended in knockout wins.

3. Manny Pacquiao

Manny Pacquiao is a retired professional boxer from the republic of the Philippines. Presently, Pacquiao is actively involved in politics as he is currently serving as a senator in his home country. During his boxing career, Pacquiao earned many awards and championship titles. He won twelve major world titles and is the only professional boxer to have been named an eight-division world champion. Furthermore, he is the first boxer to win linear championships in five different weight classes and the first to ever win major world championship titles in four of the original eight weight boxing classes. Interestingly, Pacquiao is the first boxer to ever hold

.. Pacquiao’s biggest and most lucrative fight happened in May 2015 when he fought against Floyd Mayweather, his longtime rival. 

Although he lost the match, Manny ended up earning $130 million that day. His career ended with 62 wins out of 72 fights with 39 knockout victories.

2. George Foreman

George Foreman is a highly successful entrepreneur and a retired 2-time world heavyweight boxing champion. As a professional boxer, Foreman competed from 1969 to 1997. His journey into the boxing scene began when he took up amateur boxing to escape his troubled upbringing and won a gold medal in the heavyweight division of the 1968 Olympics game. Foreman turned professional the next year and made his mark in 1973, winning the world heavyweight championship against the then-undefeated Joe Frazier. Sadly, he lost the championship title to Muhammad Ali in the iconic Rumble in the Jungle in 1974 after defending the belt twice. Soon after this, he retired in 1977. However, Foreman made a comeback ten years later and eventually won the unified WBA, IBF, and lineal heavyweight titles in 1994. 

Foreman became the oldest boxer to ever win the world heavyweight championship of major honours and the second oldest champion in any weight class (after Bernard Hopkins). He eventually retired in 1997 with a final record of 76 wins out of 81 fights with 68 knockout victories.

01. Floyd Mayweather

Standing at number 1 on the list of the top 10 richest boxers in the world today, we have one of the greatest of all time, Floyd “Money” Mayweather. Mayweather is a world-renowned retired American boxing champion and promoter who has earned the most in the professional boxing scene with career earnings of up to $1.1 billion. Unsurprisingly, Mayweather is one of the most lucrative pay per view attractions of all time, having generated about 24 million PPV buys and $1.67 billion in revenue so far. Born into a family of boxers, Mayweather started his journey to the professional boxing scene as an amateur, winning a bronze medal in the featherweight division at the 1996 Olympics. He also won three U.S Golden Gloves championships and the U.S national championship as an amateur. He entered the professional boxing scene in 1996 and, during his career, won 15 championships from super featherweight to light-middleweight. He won the Ring Magazine title in five different weight classes and the lineal championship in four weight classes. He has also won several awards from notable organizations in the boxing scene, including being named the greatest pound-for-pound boxer by BoxRec as of May 2021. Mayweather retired with a perfect undefeated record in 2015 but made a one-fight comeback in 2017, which he also won. 

So far, Floyd Mayweather has achieved 50 victories out of 50 fights with 27 knockout wins.

Closing Thoughts

Boxing is much more than a battle between two fighters in a ring in which there is a knowledge of the danger involved and the immense rewards that follow. It's either failure or success, nothing more or less, yet the difference may either damage or strengthen the spirits of the individuals involved. Although different schools of thought view boxing as a dangerous sport, the number of viewers that it keeps attracting serves as a testament to how loved and enjoyed the sport is by many.

With a large number of viewers watching, there is no doubt that the sport will keep growing and will keep paying out incredible paychecks to professional boxers. Who knows? Maybe some of the active boxers today will make their way into the top richest in the world sometime soon.