Anthony Joshua to pocket £15m after heartbreaking loss to brilliant Usyk
Anthony Joshua might have come off second best against Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night, but he's still the undisputed champion when it comes to their respective fight purses.
Usyk put on a clinic in his fight with AJ, dominating throughout to claim the WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO titles and become the unified heavyweight world champion in the process.
All three judges scored the bout in favour of the Ukrainian, who produced a masterful performance full of skill, poise and power to shock Joshua and all of those inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Usyk will earn roughly £3million for his victory – a figure dwarfed by the amount Joshua stands to claim, despite ending up on the wrong side of the result.
Joshua's basic purse for the fight should see him pocket a cool £10million and 60% of the PPV revenue – potentially taking his pay north of the £15million mark.
It represents a 50% pay increase from his last outing against Kubrat Pulev last December, where only 1,000 fans were in attendance due to Covid-19 restrictions.
He stood to make considerably more for fighting Tyson Fury in Saudi Arabia on August 14, but that fight was put on the back burner after Fury was ordered to fight Deontay Wilder.
A blockbuster British showdown between the two rivals looks even more unlikely following Joshua's defeat to Usyk, although AJ isn't ruling out the prospect entirely.
What did you make of Anthony Joshua's performance against Oleksandr Usyk? Let us know in the comments section.
Don't miss a thing with our football updates!
Want to be on the ball with all of the latest football news?
Well then sign up for the brilliant Daily Star football email newsletter!
From the latest transfer news to the agenda-setting stories, get it all in your email inbox – don't miss a thing.
How do you sign up?
It only takes a matter of seconds.
Simply type your email address into the box at the top of this article and hit 'subscribe'.
And that's it, job done. You'll receive an email with all of the top news stories every single morning.
You can find out more information on our email newsletter on this link here.
"The road to undisputed and all that stuff, it's good," said Joshua at the post-fight press conference.
"As I said, I'll fight Tyson Fury, Wilder, without the belts.
"The belts are fun. It's great, it's legacy. But with or without the belts, I'll fight whoever. The road to undisputed is a nice title to have and a nice title to chase."
Joshua was set to earn around £100million for his undisputed fight with Fury, a figure that could still be reached if he regains his belts in a rematch with Usyk.
The Gypsy King admitted before the fight that he wanted Joshua to win so that he could make as much money as possible from their era-defining clash.
"Do I want him to win? Definitely," Fury said. "Because it doesn’t make much sense in me beating Usyk up.
"I’d much prefer to beat Joshua up. It’s a bigger fight and people want to see it more.
"If Usyk does then he will cost us a few quid, won’t he?
"Then again we have lost plenty of money in the past so it doesn’t really matter, does it? There’s plenty to go around."
Source: Read Full Article