Despite the painful defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in their heavyweight re-match in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Anthony Joshua may have pocketed over $75million in the most anticipated rematch that ended in a split decision in favour of Usyk who had beaten Joshua to win the world title last year.
Converted to naira at the official exchange rate of N420.33 to the dollar, Joshua’s earnings from the match may exceed N31 billion after splitting the $150 million at stake.
According AS, an online sports newspaper, “the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia offered a massive base purse of $150 million for the rematch, with both fighters splitting it down the middle. Usyk had requested parity as a condition for the rematch. However, still due to the British boxer’s celebrity status, he could stand to earn more from fight bonuses and sponsorships”.
But the Mirror, a UK tabloid had reported a more conservative purse of $80 million to be divided between the two fighters.
Joshua is a British celebrity heavyweight boxer of Nigerian ancestry who has several endorsements from Armour, Jaguar Land Rover, Beats, Sky Sports, Hugo Boss and many more
The much-awaited rematch on Sunday morning ended in defeat for Joshua by a split decision to retain the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO titles.
The first judge had 115-113 in favour of Joshua while the second 115-113 to Usyk and the third 116-112 to Usyk.
Usyk, 35, had last year defeated the defending champion in London. The Ukrainian victory may set up a potential unification bout with Britain’s Tyson Fury.
