Tyson Fury to rival Cristiano Ronaldo’s entire season earnings in Oleksandr Usyk fight alone, research reveals
Gypsy King will pocket around $145million, three times more than the likes of Max Verstappen across an entire season
As WBC king Tyson Fury prepares for Saturday’s undisputed world heavyweight title fight with Oleksandr Usyk, research from talkSPORT BET has unveiled a statistic that shows the huge financial boost he is set to receive.
Reports claim Fury will take a 70% cut of the fight purse in Saudi Arabia, equating to around $145million, comparable with the $166m Cristiano Ronaldo will receive across the whole 10-month Saudi Pro League season with Al-Nassr.
Analysing the biggest earners across a range of global sports (not taking into account off-field deals), Fury’s sum for Saturday’s fight is streets ahead of his peers whose seasonal earnings are towered over by his single fight payout – and with the potential for another fight in 2024 for the Gypsy King, his yearly earnings could still grow exponentially further.
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani is the next nearest rival to the British boxer, pocketing around $46m across the 2024 MLB season – just a third of Fury’s payout. Ohtani signed a 10-year $700m contract with the Todd Boehly-owned Dodgers last December, the largest professional contract in sports history.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen will receive $45m across the 2024 Formula 1 season while basketball great Steph Curry will take home $38m from the current NBA campaign.
Other big earners include Norwegian golfer Viktor Hovland who claimed $37m in prize money from the 2022-23 PGA Tour season and American football sensation Patrick Mahomes, whose 10-year $450m contract with the Kansas City Chiefs equalled a $22.5m sum for his efforts across the six-month NFL-winning campaign.
Tennis legend Novak Djokovic and NHL ace Nathan MacKinnon also make the top 10 with Jon Jones included as the highest earning UFC fighter for his March 2023 heavyweight title fight against Ciryl Gane.
Ryon Scott-Douglas, spokesperson of talkSPORT BET, said: “The astronomical sum Tyson Fury is set to earn from Saturday’s fight with Oleksandr Usyk shows the huge power of Saudi Arabian investment in sport.
“Only Portuguese icon Cristiano Ronaldo can rival Fury’s earnings, with the ex-Manchester United man benefiting from his switch to Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Nassr in December 2022.
“Other global sports fade in comparison to this weekend’s blockbuster unification bout, with stars from MLB, NBA and NFL earning less than a third of Fury’s purse this weekend across a season.
“Max Verstappen may well be the biggest earner in Formula 1 and Viktor Hovland and Novak Djokovic both had hugely successful years in 2023 but they can’t compete with the pull of Saudi riches for the biggest boxing fights.”