{"id":703145,"date":"2026-01-18T00:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T00:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/703145\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T00:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T00:07:11","slug":"canelo-alvarez-trumps-lionel-messi-and-lebron-james-in-list-of-highest-earning-sports-stars-after-money-spinning-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/703145\/","title":{"rendered":"Canelo Alvarez trumps Lionel Messi and LeBron James in list of highest-earning sports stars after money-spinning 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

2025 wasn’t a great year for Canelo Alvarez’s legacy, but it was for his bank balance. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The Mexican superstar raked in a staggering $137m last year, placing him at No.2 on the Sportico highest-earning athletes list.<\/p>\n

\"'Bud'<\/a><\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

Canelo vs Crawford was the highest-earning fight of the yearCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Only Al-Nassr’s Cristiano Ronaldo<\/a> ($260m) generated more income, while Lionel Messi<\/a> ($130m), LeBron James<\/a> ($128.7m) and Karim Benzema<\/a> ($115m) were all trumped by Alvarez’s astronomical earnings.<\/p>\n

$125m of Alvarez’s cash came directly from his fight purses, with endorsements injecting an additional $12m.<\/p>\n

Alvarez boxed twice last year, recording one victory and one defeat.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old kicked off 2025 by beating William Scull via unanimous decision in a low-output affair that set the record for the fewest punches thrown in a 12-round bout.<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE ON BOXING <\/p>\n

He was then thrust into a super fight with Terence Crawford<\/a> in September, which he lost convincingly on points.<\/p>\n

Some reports suggested Alvarez had been paid up to $150m for his Netflix showdown with Crawford, but judging from Sportico’s numbers, those figures are incorrect. <\/p>\n

Which other boxers feature on the 2025 highest-earning athletes?<\/p>\n

Alvarez wasn’t the only boxer to feature on the Sportico top 100.<\/p>\n

Crawford ranked 21st overall alongside Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell.<\/p>\n

Both men pocketed $66m for their efforts, with $60m of Crawford’s earnings stemming from his fight with Canelo – his only contest of the year – and $6m from endorsements.<\/p>\n

Naoya Inoue<\/a> also features on the list at No.25 after an incredibly active year.<\/p>\n

Sportico’s top 30 richest athletes <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Cristiano Ronaldo, football: $260m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. Canelo Alvarez, boxing: $137m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      1. Lionel Messi, football: $130m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          \n
        1. Juan Soto, baseball: $129.2m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
            \n
          1. LeBron James,\u00a0NBA: $128.7m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
              \n
            1. Karim Benzema, football: $115m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                \n
              1. Stephen Curry,\u00a0NBA: $105.4m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                  \n
                1. Shohei Ohtani,\u00a0baseball: $102.5m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                    \n
                  1. Kevin Durant,\u00a0NBA: $100.8m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                      \n
                    1. Jon Rahm, golf: $100.7m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                        \n
                      1. Lewis Hamilton, F1: $100m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                          \n
                        1. Kylian Mbappe, football: $95m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                            \n
                          1. Giannis Antetokounmpo,\u00a0NBA: $94.3m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                              \n
                            1. Rory McIlroy, golf: $91.2m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                                \n
                              1. Max Verstappen, F1: $83m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                                  \n
                                1. Scottie Scheffler, golf: $82.9m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                                    \n
                                  1. Patrick Mahomes, NFL: $80.3m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                                      \n
                                    1. Erling Haaland, football: $77.9m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                                        \n
                                      1. Josh Allen, NFL: $73.2m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                                          \n
                                        1. Justin Herbert, NFL: $71.1m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                                            \n
                                          1. Blake Snell, baseball, $66m\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                                            \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0= Terence Crawford, boxing: $66m\u00a0<\/p>\n

                                            \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a023. Bryson DeChambeau, golf: $62.7m\u00a0<\/p>\n

                                            \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a024. Anthony Edwards,\u00a0NBA: $62.2m\u00a0<\/p>\n

                                            \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a025. Naoya Inoue, boxing: $62m\u00a0<\/p>\n

                                            \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a026. Joel Embiid,\u00a0NBA: $61m\u00a0<\/p>\n

                                            \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a027.\u00a0Jayson Tatum,\u00a0NBA: $60.4m\u00a0<\/p>\n

                                            \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a028.\u00a0Jimmy Butler,\u00a0NBA: $60.3m\u00a0<\/p>\n

                                            \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a029.\u00a0Nikola Jokic,\u00a0NBA: $60.2m\u00a0<\/p>\n

                                            \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a030.\u00a0Jake Paul, boxing: $60m<\/p>\n

                                            ‘The Monster’ banked $62m after defending his undisputed super bantamweight crown four times in the space of 12 months, beating Ye Joon Kim, Ramon Cardenas, Murodjon Akhmadaliev and David Picasso.<\/p>\n

                                            Jake Paul<\/a> was the fourth and final pugilist listed, coming in at No.30.<\/p>\n

                                            ‘The Problem Child’ fought twice in 2025, beating Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and losing to Anthony Joshua<\/a>.<\/p>\n

                                            Curiously, Joshua didn’t make the top 100 despite pocketing an even share of the prize pot against Paul.<\/p>\n

                                            The Sportico methodology states that “estimates are for earnings during the 2025 calendar year”.<\/p>\n

                                            Therefore, it is assumed that Joshua’s exclusion is an administrative error. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2025 wasn’t a great year for Canelo Alvarez’s legacy, but it was for his bank balance. The Mexican…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":703146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,4496,4851,4116,211335,13698,2746,7177,79,22178,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-703145","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-boxing-news","10":"tag-canelo-alvarez","11":"tag-cristiano-ronaldo","12":"tag-highest-earning-athletes","13":"tag-lebron-james","14":"tag-lionel-messi","15":"tag-naoya-inoue","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-terence-crawford","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115913191865186296","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}