World Boxing News counts down the Top 35 revenue-generating Pay Per View boxing events of all time featuring the best names in the sport.
The list considers inflation and has altered since the last time WBN named the Top 30 back in 2020.
Since then, Mike Tyson’s boxing exhibition match with Roy Jones Jr. has made a new entry. It’s the only fight since Canelo vs Golovkin II to do so in four years.
Muhammad Ali and Floyd Mayweather
Boxing legends Muhammad Ali and Floyd Mayweather lead the way holding two each in the top spot. They both generated one billion dollars over two fights.
Ali’s contribution took in closed circuit television beamed worldwide and before the days of PBC FOX PPV, DAZN, ESPN, Showtime PPV, and HBO.
While Mayweather banked on home box office events being purchased from the boxing schedule.
Mayweather trumps Ali by featuring five times in the top ten. Ali makes three appearances ahead of Mike Tyson’s two. Joe Frazier also makes two: Manny Pacquiao, George Foreman, UFC’s MMA star Conor McGregor, Evander Holyfield, Peter McNeeley, Ricky Hatton, Canelo Alvarez, and Oscar De La Hoya make one.
“Money” returns in November in yet another exhibition move around after winning recently in Saitama.
Current Pay Per View Boxing
The next big pay-per-view event features Deontay Wilder and Robert Helenius at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. There’s no way the PPV event on Oct 15 will get anywhere near the top 100, let alone the top 35.
In the UK, Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn square off first in a British showdown doubling as a family grudge match in London.
Devin Haney vs George Kambosos Jr. II, taking place later this month, will be a vast PPV main event in Australia.
Work is still ongoing to land one of the biggest fish in Errol Spence Jr. vs Terence Crawford. The more prolonged the negotiations, the welterweight stars face extended time out of the ring.
They are nothing compared to the mess that is Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua.
Top 35 Pay Per View Boxing events of all time
1. = $500,000,000
October 30, 1974: Muhammad Ali vs. George Foreman
October 1, 1975: Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier III
May 2, 2015: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao
August 26, 2017: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor
5. = $300,000,000
March 8, 1971: Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier
June 28, 1997: Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield II
7. $200,000,000
May 5, 2007: Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
8. $190,000,000
August 19, 1995: Mike Tyson vs. Peter McNeeley
9. $180,000,000
December 8, 2007: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Ricky Hatton
10. $170,000,000
September 14, 2013: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Canelo Álvarez
11. = $169,000,000
March 16, 1996: Frank Bruno vs. Mike Tyson II
June 8, 2002: Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson
13. = $160,000,000
September 27, 1976: Muhammad Ali vs. Ken Norton III
June 27, 1988: Mike Tyson vs. Michael Spinks
November 9, 1996: Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield
16. $150,000,000
April 19, 1991: Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman
17. $140,000,000
April 6, 1987: Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Marvin Hagler
18. $130,000,000
December 6, 2008: Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao
19. $120,000,000
September 18, 1999: Oscar De La Hoya vs. Félix Trinidad
20. $117,000,000
Sep 15, 2018: Canelo Álvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin II
21 to 35
21. = $111,000,000
May 1, 2010: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Shane Mosley
May 5, 2012: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Miguel Cotto
23. = $110,000,000
September 7, 1996: Mike Tyson vs. Bruce Seldon
November 13, 2011: Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Márquez III
25. $105,000,000
September 17, 2011: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs Victor Ortiz
26. = $101,000,000
May 2, 2009: Manny Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton
May 7, 2011: Manny Pacquiao vs. Shane Mosley
Showtime
28. = $100,000,000
June 20, 1980: Roberto Durán vs. Sugar Ray Leonard
June 28, 1991: Mike Tyson vs. Donovan Ruddock II
November 14, 2009: Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto
September 16, 2017: Canelo Álvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin
32. = $90,000,000
November 13, 2010: Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito
33. $80,000,000
November 28, 2020: Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr.
34. $74,000,000
September 19, 2009: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Juan Manuel Márquez
HBO
35. $68,000,000
April 29, 2017: Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko
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