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Kovalev will be making much more than what’s listed on the Nevada Athletic Commission paysheet.
The fighter purses are out for Saturday’s big boxing card in Las Vegas, where Canelo Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs) will challenge for the WBO light heavyweight title against reigning champion Sergey Kovalev (34-3-1, 29 KOs), and unsurprisingly there’s a giant payday coming for Canelo.
Thanks to his deal with DAZN, Canelo’s official guarantee is $35 million, and that’s not even including subscription-driven incentives in his contract, or the money he makes from Mexican TV. Kovalev’s guarantee is a decidedly modest $3 million, but he’s reportedly making much more than that. The Athletic reported that Kovalev’s full sum is $12 million, although a cut of that will go to his co-promoters Main Events and Top Rank. It’s a career-high salary for Kovalev, who is just two months removed from his KO win over Anthony Yarde in Russia.
The rest of this card… it’s not good and the purses reflect as such. It’s a showcase of prospects and then there’s an interim women’s boxing title bout. in Only 21-year-old prospect Ryan Garcia is making six figures, and that’s obviously a power play win for him given he was at odds with Golden Boy earlier this year. Garcia is getting $250,000 for his non-title bout against Romero Duno. He’s definitely one of the higher paid non-champion boxers in his age bracket. For Seniesa Estrada and Marlen Esparza, they each get $50,000 for their interim WBA flyweight title affair.
Here are the full salaries, per ESPN:
Canelo Alvarez $35 million
Sergey Kovalev $3 million (guaranteed several million more)
Ryan Garcia $250,000
Romero Duno $50,000
Bakhram Murtazaliev $55,000
Jorge Fortea $20,000
Seniesa Estrada $50,000
Marlen Esparza $50,000
Blair Cobbs $20,000
Carlos Ortiz $5,000
Meiirim Nursultanov $12,500
Cristian Olivas $12,000
Evan Holyfield – Unknown
Nick Winstead – Unknown