Anthony Joshua may have lost his last two fights and his heavyweight belts to Oleksandr Usyk, but his net worth has continued to soar.
The former heavyweight world champion had never suffered consecutive defeats in his career before taking on Usyk last year, but lost both of their fights after the Ukrainian was named his mandatory challenger in October. But despite now having lost three fights, his brand continues to strengthen, and his earnings hit a massive £130million last year.
He earned a huge purse for his second bout with Usyk in Saudi Arabia this August, having made £12m for their first meeting the previous September. Equity in his business Sparta Promotions rose by just over £8.5m to £106,448,948 in the year to February, while assets in his management and sponsorship company 258 Marketing Limited also increased by £3.8m to £23,130,494.
Even as the challenger, Joshua was expected to take home at least £33m from his latest bout in the Middle East, which was stunningly less than his £46m incoming from his first meeting with Andy Ruiz Jr, and didn't appear on the recently released accounts. His purse almost certainly rose when the pay-per-views and gate revenue were confirmed.
He had a stronger contract when he faced Ruiz in Saudi Arabia during December of 2019. That bout was a rematch of their June fight at Madison Square Garden, where Ruiz was a voluntary challenger and had considerably less pull than Usyk, who was mandated by the WBO for Joshua to fight.
It had appeared that Joshua was set for yet another big-money super-fight on December 3 against Tyson Fury, but talks between his promoter Eddie Hearn and Fury's Queensberry Promotions broke down. Instead, he is expected to organise a comeback fight on December 17 against a much lesser opponent.
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Joshua's earning power in the boxing world is the stuff of legend, and even after going 2-3 in his last five fights he maintains a massive draw in the United Kingdom. His last five payouts have seen him earn £67m more than Fury, who is still the heavyweight world champion and has a much bigger presence in America.
The level of opposition may have something to do with Joshua's advantage over Fury, with fans refusing to come out in massive numbers for his Las Vegas clashes with Tom Schwarz and Otto Wallin. The trilogy bout between Fury and Deontay Wilder was also not a particularly big draw given how dominant he had been in their first two outings; a contentious draw and a knockout win.
Joshua has faced Ruiz twice, Kubrat Pulev and Usyk twice in his last five outings, two of which took place in Saudi Arabia where payouts are considerably higher than America or the UK. He did, however, take a major cut to fight in front of a tiny 1,000-fan crowd at Wembley Arena during the pandemic, but otherwise took part in four fights against high level names.
