Canelo Alvarez has not only overtaken Floyd Mayweather Jr. as one of the biggest active boxing stars today, but also as the highest-paid boxer according to a recent list compiled by Forbes.
The annual list of the highest-paid boxers by Forbes has Alvarez, the current WBA, WBO, and IBF middleweight champions as well as the WBA "Regular" super middleweight titleholder, as the highest-earning boxer with $94 million earned from June 1, 2018 to June 1, 2019.
During that 12-month span, Alvarez defeated Gennadiy Golovkin to capture the unified middleweight titles in a pay-per-view bout that had at least a million pay-per-view buys, then signed a record-breaking deal with DAZN. In Alvarez?s two fights with DAZN, he defeated Rocky Fielding last December and then Daniel Jacobs on May 4 with all three fights netting Alvarez at least $20 million each and the two fights on DAZN giving Alvarez more than $30 million each.
As for Mayweather, the unbeaten former world champion is not listed anywhere in the top 100, by far the biggest drop from last year's list as he was the highest-earning athlete last year. Based on the dates used to compile last year's list, Mayweather earned the top spot with $285 million thanks in large part to his August 2017 fight against Conor McGregor that sold more than four million pay-per-view units.
There are four other boxers that made it to the top 100 for 2019. Former unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua came in at No. 13 with $55 million earned, followed by Deontay Wilder at No. 56 with $30.5 million, Manny Pacquiao at No. 92 with $26 million and Golovkin at No. 96 with $25.5 million.
The full list, which has international soccer player Lionel Messi be listed at No. 1 with $127 million earned, can be seen at this link.