Still, the money flowed, swollen by Saudi backing. In another era, a fighter earning that kind of fortune would have been expected to bleed for it. In 2025, Canelo was paid handsomely to remind everyone who he used to be, not to show them who he still is.
He sleepwalked through William Scull in January during a defense so passive it set records for fewest punches thrown over twelve rounds. Nine months later, he dropped a clear decision to Terence Crawford after getting outboxed, outworked, and exposed. Both generated massive purses. Neither justified his position as boxing’s highest-paid active fighter.
What the Numbers Expose About Alvarez’s Decline
Crawford collected $60 million for one performance, beating Alvarez after jumping two weight classes and making him look ordinary. Naoya Inoue earned $62 million across four undisputed defenses at super bantamweight, stopping three opponents and dominating a former unified champion. Jake Paul banked $60 million for two fights, including a broken jaw loss to Anthony Joshua.
Alvarez made more than all of them while delivering less. The Scull defense generated broadcast revenue for a performance that belonged on an undercard. Crawford represented the first dangerous opponent Canelo faced in years, and the result was a one-sided schooling that exposed every decline in foot speed, punch selection, and ring generalship.
The financial model rewards commercial leverage, not competitive achievement, which explains how Canelo Alvarez continues cashing checks while ducking David Benavidez and hand-picking opponents who pose minimal threat. Inoue defended against live challengers four times in twelve months and made less than half of Canelo’s total. Crawford fought once, dominated, and earned $6 million in endorsements compared to Alvarez’s $12 million despite holding fewer belts and fighting less frequently.
The Scull Fight Revealed the Strategy
That January defense was calculated inactivity. Alvarez threw fewer punches than any champion in a twelve-round fight because he could. Scull offered no danger, carried no name value, and existed solely to fulfill a contractual obligation while preserving wear on a 34-year-old body already showing mileage.
The lack of urgency, punch volume, and competitive fire confirmed what observers already suspected: Canelo no longer fights to prove greatness. He fights to maintain revenue streams while expending minimal effort against carefully selected opposition. The Crawford bout was supposed to silence critics, but it instead validated them. Crawford, climbing from welterweight, controlled distance, landed cleaner shots, and made Alvarez look slow and predictable.
Where Alvarez Stands After $137 Million
He remains boxing’s biggest gate attraction while being nowhere near its best active fighter. Inoue holds all four belts and defends them against mandatory challengers and unification targets. Oleksandr Usyk beat Tyson Fury twice in twelve months. Crawford added the Alvarez scalp to a ledger that already included stoppages of Errol Spence Jr. and Shawn Porter.
Alvarez’s last significant victory came against Caleb Plant in 2021. Nothing since has matched that level of opposition or execution.
Neither 2025 fight outcome strengthens his case for Fighter of the Year or Ring pound-for-pound recognition. The $137 million reflects market power built on past achievements, not current dominance, and that gap grows wider with each calculated defense and each loss to elite opposition.
Canelo earned more than LeBron James and Lionel Messi, athletes still performing at championship levels. He did so while losing to a welterweight and coasting through a defense against a fighter nobody remembers. The money keeps flowing. The ring work keeps declining.
The Full Sportico Top 30
Cristiano Ronaldo, football: $260m
Canelo Alvarez, boxing: $137m
Lionel Messi, football: $130m
Juan Soto, baseball: $129.2m
LeBron James, NBA: $128.7m
Karim Benzema, football: $115m
Stephen Curry, NBA: $105.4m
Shohei Ohtani, NBA: $102.5m
Kevin Durant, NBA: $100.8m
Jon Rahm, golf: $100.7m
Lewis Hamilton, F1: $100m
Kylian Mbappe, football: $95m
Giannis Antetokounmpo, NBA: $94.3m
Rory McIlroy, golf: $91.2m
Max Verstappen, F1: $83m
Scottie Scheffler, golf: $82.9m
Patrick Mahomes, NFL: $80.3m
Erling Haaland, football: $77.9m
Josh Allen, NFL: $73.2m
Justin Herbert, NFL: $71.1m
Blake Snell, baseball: $66m
Terence Crawford, boxing: $66m
Bryson DeChambeau, golf: $62.7m
Anthony Edwards, NBA: $62.2m
Naoya Inoue, boxing: $62m
Joel Embiid, NBA: $61m
Jayson Tatum, NBA: $60.4m
Jimmy Butler, NBA: $60.3m
Nikola Jokic, NBA: $60.2m
Jake Paul, boxing: $60m
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2026-01-17 18:41:57