Love him for his skills in the ring or loathe him for his opinions outside of it, there’s no question that British boxing icon Tyson ‘The Gypsy King’ Fury is one-of-a-kind.
Following two close-but-consecutive defeats to the Ukrainian ‘Cat’, Tyson Fury announced his retirement from boxing with a ‘short but sweet’ video on his social media pages.
Since that shock announcement, speculation has been rife as to whether Tyson Fury is serious about hanging up the gloves – well, if bank accounts are anything to go by, Fury has earned more than enough to enjoy his retirement to the fullest extent.
Tyson ‘The Gypsy King’ Fury ranks as the third highest-paid athlete of 2024
Earlier this week, Sports Business outlet ‘Sportico’ shared their final report on the Top 100 highest-paid athletes of 2024, with a total of six professional boxers cracking that lucrative list.
Tyson Fury ultimately came in as the third highest-paid athlete of the year, earning over $140 million for his two iconic clashes with Oleksandr Usyk and making an extra $7 million in endorsements.
Only two sports stars earned more money than Fury in 2024, those being soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo at $260 million, and Basketball phenom Steph Curry at $153.8 million.
Oleksandr Usyk himself ranked as the #7 highest-paid athlete in 2024, taking home $120 million in winnings and $2 million in endorsements – although Usyk also took home four championship belts, which are arguably far more valuable.
Canelo Alvarez was the next highest-paid boxer of the year, coming in at 20th overall.
The Mexican’s two unanimous decision wins over Edgar Berlanga and Jaime Munguia earned him a combined $65 million salary with an additional $8 million in sponsorships.
British boxing legend Anthony Joshua found himself ranked 30th.
AJ knocked out Francis Ngannou last March before suffering a nasty KO at the hands of Daniel Dubois in September – those fights landed Joshua around $60 million in total.
Sitting pretty as the 52nd highest-paid athlete of 2024 was Jake ‘The Problem Child’ Paul, who reportedly took home $38 million in winnings and $10 million in endorsements with his three wins – including the controversial super-fight with Mike Tyson on Netflix.
The sixth and final boxer who cracked the top 100 was Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue, who took home $42 million in total; split $35 million in winnings and $7 million in endorsements.
‘Real reason’ for Tyson Fury’s retirement revealed by former champion
According to former world champion Carl Froch, Fury announced his retirement from the sport of boxing after coming to terms with the fact that his best days are in the rear-view mirror.
“I’m not sure because he is quite stubborn, and when he digs his heels in, and similar to me, he’ll double down on it. It’s like a lot of boxers. He has retired because deep down, he knows he is probably past his best.
“I know personally he is p—–. I spoke to somebody close to his team, and he’s really frustrated and p—– off that he lost the rematch, but he did lose and lost fair and square.”
Despite hanging up the gloves, Froch knows that the possibility of a ‘Battle of Britain’ between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua remains alive and kicking.
“Maybe Fury is feeling a little let down by himself, and that might bring him out of retirement one last time, and the fight with Anthony Joshua is a big fight,” continued Froch.
“As much as I think it’s not as big of a fight as it could have been, and isn’t as exciting without a title… There’s nothing at stake apart from a bragging rights fight. It’s too late now. I’m not excited, but I appreciate it’s a big fight for Britain, and if he gets offered £100m, then he will take the fight.”