Now I know some of you will be saying "Don't you mean BLOW so much money?" but how did he earn as much as he did throughout his career? Was he one of the main draws of his era or what? What kind of business deals/sponsorships did he have going for him?
In the early 90's American heavyweights made buckets of cash. Certainly when 2 champs fought eachother (Holyfield vs Tyson I and II, and vs Bowe I, II and III). edit: some were earlier I see :yep
but yea as others said boxing in America was at its all time high in terms of popularity. I mean just think about it, he fought bowe three times, lewis twice and tyson twice. And yes I think the better question wouldve been regarding these fights is how the hell did he blow it all lol.
He had a lot of HUGE PPV fights with big name opponents in the 90's. Holyfield-Tyson 1-2 Holyfield-Lewis 1-2 Holyfield-Douglas Holyfield-Foreman all averaged between 1.5-2 Million PPV buys per fight. And he netted about 20-30 Million for each of those fights. Also, being the #1 Heavyweight in the world back then, usually meant you were the highest paid athlete on earth.
Yeah. Back in 1988, Tyson earned almost more than twice that of the next highest paid athlete, Michael Jordan. ($80 million v $34 million)
Yup. Now it's flipped upside down. Lebron & Kobe make twice as much on average as the Heavyweight champ, as well as about half a dozen NFL players. And 2 dudes that descend from the midget divisions in boxing sit atop of the world's highest paid athletes.
Tiger Woods has been earning over 100 million for several years now in golf with Mickelson second at about half that, show's you how times change when even the top boxers can barely scrape in the top 10.
