• Ronaldo still number one

Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are among six boxers to make the 2024 Sportico rich list, reports talksport.com. Over the last 12 months from February 12, 2024, to February 12, 2025, Sportico tracked the income of the world’s biggest sports stars to compile their annual list.

Al Nassr’s Cristiano Ronaldo came out on top with a whopping $260m while Golden State Warriors points guard Steph Curry cashed $153.8m in 2024. Following closely behind in third place was former unified heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, who earned a monumental $147m from his two fights with Oleksandr Usyk plus endorsements.

Lionel Messi, Lebron James, and Neymar made up places four to six just ahead of Usyk at number seven. Fury earned a lion’s share of the purse, but the Ukrainian slickster still took home $122m of the pay pot plus endorsements. He is expected to shoot up the list in 2025 after signing a money-spinning four-fight deal with Riyadh Season that includes a September showdown with Terence Crawford.

Joshua was the fourth-highest-earning boxer in 2024 and 30th overall in sports with $60m. The Watford powerhouse kicked off his year with a bang by knocking out former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou inside two rounds in March before ending up on the receiving end of an equally brutal stoppage at the hands of Daniel Dubois in September.

Twenty two spaces below AJ, Jake Paul came in as the fifth-highest-earning boxer in 2024 after his record-breaking Netflix clash with Mike Tyson in November.

The fight, which was staged at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, generated more than $17.8 million at the gate to become boxing’s biggest box-office success in the United States outside of Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, an estimated 108 million people tuned in to watch the crossover contest. Paul pocketed $38m for the fight. An extra $10m in endorsements brings him up to $48m overall.

The sixth boxer to make the Sportico Top 100 was Japanese sensation, Naoya Inoue at No.81. He, like Canelo, is expected to have an even bigger 2025 after signing a multi-fight deal with Riyadh Season.

Year 2024 was a fruitful year for the undisputed super bantamweight champion, who defeated Luis Nery, and TJ Doheny last year before taking out Kim Ye-joon at the start of 2025.

In total, he took home $42m – his most lucrative annum to date.

Carl Froch reckons Tyson Fury would be interested in a £100million fight against British rival Anthony Joshua.

Fury announced his retirement from boxing in January just weeks after losing to Oleksandr Usyk for a second time. The 36-year-old previously declared his retirement before offering up a U-turn. However, this latest announcement follows Usyk’s victory over the ex-unified heavyweight champion in their highly anticipated rematch in December.

The Manchester-born fighter was defeated by unanimous decision months after failing to secure victory in their match for the undisputed championship of the heavyweight division in May. Fury’s announcement seemed to extinguish any possibility of a bout with Joshua, which could have – arguably – been the most significant event in British boxing history.

But former super-middleweight champion and current boxing pundit Froch says ‘The Gypsy King’ might not stay retired for long if a potential big-money fight against Joshua comes about.

“I’m not sure [if he will stay retired] because he’s quite stubborn and when he digs his heels in, and similar to me, he’ll double down on it,” he said via Action Network.

Froch went on: “It’s like a lot of boxers. He has retired because deep down he knows he is probably past his best and lost two fights (to Oleksandr Usyk) and 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.

“It was a close fight, but wasn’t very entertaining, not like the first one where there were moments of excitement, and not a lot happened. I think Usyk did enough to win.

“He shouldn’t have any complaints apart from the frustration that he didn’t go for it.

“I just think Tyson Fury had a bit more left in the tank and could’ve tried a little harder. He’s the bigger man and is heavier. Maybe Fury is feeling a little let down by himself, and it might bring him out of retirement one last time and the fight with Anthony Joshua is a big fight as much as I think that’s not as big of a fight as it could have been, and isn’t as exciting without a title.

“Anthony Joshua has been done a few times now and he’s past his best. Tyson Fury is 36, he’s overweight and he struggles to get fit, so 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 £100million then he will take the fight.”

Tyson Fury may have announced his retirement, but there is still plenty of hope he will fight Anthony Joshua.

‘The Gypsy King’ revealed he was walking away from the sport in a brief social media post at the start of January. It came just weeks after his second consecutive loss to Oleksandr Usyk.

The first of those in May was for all four belts and undisputed honours. Fury lost narrowly on points. The second was for three of the four belts and saw the Ukrainian take the win again, handing Fury his second professional loss.

For many years, the former world champion was long linked with a fight with fellow Brit Joshua and it seemed the time was now right given that Joshua also lost his last fight against Dubois in September, leaving both men with seemingly nowhere better to go than this legacy-defining contest.

Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, promoter Eddie Hearn outlined what must happen if the fight is to go ahead next given that Joshua – who has also lost twice to Usyk – is keen to fight on.

Former heavyweight contender David Price is not convinced that Tyson Fury has truly retired from boxing and shared his thoughts on how a potential fight with Anthony Joshua would unfold.

Fury announced his retirement last month, weeks after consecutive losses to Oleksandr Usyk. Price, however, is not convinced. “I took his retirement with a pinch of salt.

The nature of it was quite blasé. It was just a quick video message on social media without much context,” “On the flip side, it wouldn’t surprise you if he did retire after the Usyk fight, because he doesn’t always do things by the book.

It wasn’t a massive surprise, given that he’d done it before. He’s a bit like the boy who cried wolf, as he’s announced it a few times now. You can’t take it too seriously. We’ll see with that one; I wouldn’t be so sure.”

Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn stated that if Fury intends to fight Joshua, he needs to reverse his retirement decision soon.

Regarding a potential Fury-Joshua fight, Price believes it would still be a massive stadium sell-out. “It’s still a massive fight; it would easily sell a big stadium. I’d certainly be watching it. They’re still in their 30s, they’re still in their prime as men,” he said.

“The wise money would be on Fury; if you look at like-for-like results and losses on the record, he’s lost to Usyk twice, while Joshua’s done the same but then lost to Ruiz and Dubois too.

“Fury has never been knocked out, which helps. Styles make fights, though, and Joshua is still an explosive, big puncher. For me personally, I think Fury would win that with a late stoppage.”

Derek Chisora has suggested three possible opponents for his next and likely final career fight.

After Saturday’s victory over Otto Wallin, Chisora canvased the crowd as to whether they wanted to see him fight Daniel Dubois, the IBF heavyweight titlist, Oleksandr Usyk, the unified WBC, WBA and WBO champion, or Anthony Joshua.

Joshua remains a major star in British boxing but he has not managed to reclaim a world title since his first loss to Usyk. He lost a 2022 rematch to Usyk and Dubois, now the IBF champion, knocked him out last September inside five rounds.

Chisora has always been on good terms with Joshua. They both boxed for the same amateur club, Finchley ABC, and now Chisora’s career is handled by Joshua’s management company.

Matt Macklin spoke about Tyson Fury’s retirement announcement and the potential disappointment if he never faces Anthony Joshua in the ring

After his win over Wallin as he looks at imminent retirement, Chisora said: “I need something big. I think I’ve earned something big.”

He’s not convinced that will be Joshua, who he expects to fight Tyson Fury – despite the 36-year-old retiring after his second defeat to Usyk.

“Who knows? Right now AJ is healing himself after the defeat from Daniel Dubois. He’s not ready yet. When he’s ready he’ll come back and I think he’ll come back – not to fight me but to fight the ‘Gypsy King’,” Chisora said post-fight. “I’ll let the public decide [who next]. I’ll let you guys decide.”

Boxing Francis Ngannou, an MMA heavyweight champion in both UFC and PFL, in a crossover event has no great appeal for Chisora.

“I don’t think Francis Ngannou will come back to boxing after the AJ loss,” he said. “I want to fight a fighter.”

Then he joked: “I might fight Jake Paul, who knows?”

Chisora has now had 49 professional contests, including fights with Oleksandr Usyk, Vitali Klitschko and a trilogy with Tyson Fury.

A 50th and probably final fight is likely to take place overseas. “I think I’m getting old,” Chisora said after beating Wallin.

“It was very emotional for me,” he continued. “When I arrived I said to myself before I left my hotel, ‘I’m not going to cry’.

“It was very emotional for me and very sad because I love this game so much. So I just started crying. I was crying like a kid.”

Roy Jones Jr Predicts Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua After Both Losing To Usyk: “He Has The Edge”

Roy Jones Jr has given an insight into who he believes wins between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.

The British heavyweight rivals are still being linked with one another despite Fury announcing his retirement from boxing at the beginning of January.

After ‘The Gypsy King’ suffered a second consecutive defeat to Oleksandr Usyk on December 21, it was speculated that the 36-year-old would finally meet ‘AJ’ in what would no doubt be the biggest fight in British boxing.

Joshua – who has also lost twice to Usyk – is now preparing to make his return to the ring after he was defeated by IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois in September.

The 35-year-old was floored three times before ‘Dynamite’ knocked him out in devastating fashion in the fifth round of their bout at Wembley Stadium.

Speaking to iFL TV, Jones was asked to predict who he believes would come out on top if a fight between Fury and Joshua ever happens.

“I like both guys, so it’s hard for me to really say, but because of their past experiences and what I’ve seen, I would probably give Fury the edge.

Looking at his two fights with Usyk, and Joshua’s two fights with Usyk, I think he [Fury] made a little better adjustments fighting Usyk than Joshua did, so I would probably give him [Fury] the edge.”

Despite his retirement announcement, it remains unclear whether ‘The Gypsy King’ intends to finally walk away from the sport or can be tempted back by the ‘AJ’ bout.

An all-British showdown has been many years in the making, but fans may be left wondering what would have happened if the pair had finally locked horns.