Anthony Joshua’s blockbuster bout with Jake Paul in Miami last month produced the highest combined purse in boxing in 2025, generating a staggering $267m, according to PUNCH Sports Extra.
The December clash at the Hard Rock Stadium saw the British heavyweight stop the YouTube star-turned-boxer with a sixth-round knockout. Despite its financial success, the contest ranked second overall behind the Terence Crawford vs Canelo Alvarez super fight in terms of total impact, based on a comprehensive analysis by Betsson.
Crawford’s September showdown with Alvarez topped the rankings with a final score of 94 points, driven by 1.5 million online searches and a crowd of 70,400, although the purse was lower at $200m. Joshua’s bout with Paul, however, attracted two million searches and an attendance of 19,600, earning a final score of 90 points to place second among the year’s biggest fights.
Betsson’s data assessed boxing’s top events using metrics including search volume, attendance, purse size and an aggregated final score. Oleksandr Usyk’s rematch with Daniel Dubois finished third with 76 points, recording 135,000 searches and the highest attendance of the year at 90,000, alongside a $200m purse.
Chris Eubank Jr’s long-anticipated clash with Conor Benn ranked fourth with 38 points, while Katie Taylor’s trilogy bout against Amanda Serrano and Manny Pacquiao’s fight with Mario Barrios completed the top six, each scoring 10 points.
“Search volume, attendance and purse data were collected from Google Keyword Planner, the World Boxing Association website and major sports publications,” the report noted. “These metrics were weighted and indexed to rank the year’s biggest fights. Where figures were not publicly available, estimates were used and may not fully reflect real-life values.”
Joshua’s victory over Paul marked a successful return following his September 2024 defeat to Dubois at Wembley Stadium and represented a key moment in his attempt to revive his career.
However, tragedy struck just days later. The former two-time world heavyweight champion was involved in a fatal car accident in Nigeria on December 29, 10 days after the Miami fight. The crash claimed the lives of his close friends, Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele. Joshua sustained minor injuries and has since returned to the United Kingdom.
Speaking exclusively to PUNCH Sports Extra, his uncle, Adedamola Joshua, revealed that the 36-year-old has decided to retire from boxing in the aftermath of the tragic incident.
