It’s All About The Money

There’s a common misconception that all boxers are earning good money and are millionaires that is simply not the case. So this week I will be looking at how much money boxers actually make.

Due to the fact that boxers are not employed as such they do not get paid unless they fight, and if for some reason they can’t fight such as their opponent has pulled out or they are injured they don’t get paid. Due to this when a fighter is first starting out they often don’t make enough money to live on so they often have to find a second or third job just to put food on the table and pay their bills. For an example of this look at Josh Warrington up until he made it to title level he was a part time boxer and he had a full time job as a dental technician. Fighters often start out fighting on small hall shows and they will fight as often as possible. So believe it or not a boxer could make as little as £150 per fight so if they fight 12 times a year they will only earn £1800. Yes I know that is more then what a person on the minimum wage earns because there annual income is £1275 but when you consider that out of their earnings a fighter has to pay their corner team, gym fees, trainer, cut man etc, so there overall earnings will be a lot lower.

Now I’m not saying that boxers can’t make a very good living from the sport but it’s often only the elite level fighters for this post I will be looking at Anthony Joshua he is already a multi millionaire but he’s a world champion fighting the best in the world. However you don’t have to be a world champion to make a good live in when Tony Bellew fought David Haye in March it was reported that he earned £20000000. So as you can see you can make good money as a boxer but often only when you reach the top level of the sport. However when you compare a boxers earnings to a Premier League footballer there average earnings are £50000 per week which works out at £2600000 per year, but the very top earners can make up to £ 350000 per week which works out at £18200000 per year. So yes boxers can earn roughly the same as a footballer but what you have to remember is like I said before a footballer gets paid all year round whether they play or not and if they are injured they still get paid, were as a boxer only gets paid when there in the ring. Something else to consider is that if a boxer loses then the amount they get paid will be a a lot less because obviously the winning fighter will get paid more.

I hope this has helped you understand how much boxers get paid and when you consider what they have to go through to get it, it doesn’t seem like a lot. Please comment below and let me know your thoughts.