On December 19 Jake Paul will step into the riskiest bout of his boxing career – against former heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua. This is not an exhibition sparring session for hype but an official fight that will be broadcast by Netflix. The streaming giant is entering boxing in earnest, which means the odds, ratings, and purses are shooting into the stratosphere. It is already clear that we are talking about sums that only a handful of people in boxing history have ever earned.
Joshua and the Saudi Super Cheque: How the Briton Turned Into a Money-Printing Machine
Anthony Joshua is one of the highest-paid boxers of our time. His base purse per fight has long been fixed above the $10 million mark, but his true financial records have been set in high-profile mega events, not only in the most talked-about rivalries.
Paradoxically, Joshua received his biggest cheques not in the fights with Oleksandr Usyk, Wladimir Klitschko, or Daniel Dubois, but in the rematch with Andy Ruiz and the bout against Francis Ngannou – both staged in the Middle East.
Estimates for the Ruiz rematch in Saudi Arabia vary widely: according to Forbes, the Briton walked away with about $55 million, while The Sun cites a figure in the region of $86 million. Ruiz himself, although he came into the fight as champion and holder of three belts, had to settle for roughly $10 million. That night became the first truly major boxing event in Saudi Arabia – at that time nobody yet saw the kingdom as the new center of a boxing expansion that would only begin a few years later.
In the spring of 2024 Joshua knocked out Ngannou in the second round and, according to TalkSport, earned around $50 million – essentially for four minutes of work. For the heavyweight division this is a star level comparable to the likes of Floyd Mayweather in the best years of the PPV era.
Paul's Path: From YouTube Star to Multi-Million-Dollar Fights
Compared to Joshua, Jake Paul's financial trajectory started out much more modestly, but his purse chart now also looks impressive. He began earning his first significant money in boxing in fights against MMA stars – Nate Diaz, Anderson Silva, Tyron Woodley, and Ben Askren. At that time his income per bout generally did not exceed $5 million.
The turning point came after 2023: the fights that took place and carefully managed promotion turned Paul into a full-fledged member of the financial elite. For the losing effort against Tommy Fury he earned, by various estimates, around $30 million – an amount that boxing YouTubers could only dream of just a couple of years earlier.
Paul's absolute record came in the fight with Mike Tyson. According to his own words at the press conference, the purse amounted to about $40 million. Netflix generated 125 million views for that event – three times more than the Canelo Álvarez vs Terence Crawford fight (41 million). Yes, in total boxing earnings Paul still trails Joshua, but it is his media capital that has become the key to super contracts with streaming platforms.
A Digital Army of Fans and Million-Buy PPVs: Whose Audience Is More Valuable?
In the era of streaming and social media, a fighter is judged not only by his list of opponents and championship belts, but also by his follower count and how well his broadcasts sell. By this metric, the Paul–Joshua fight looks like an ideal commercial combination.
Jake Paul has 28.2 million followers on Instagram and 20.9 million on YouTube – a huge, young, and engaged audience that is used to consuming content online and ready to jump into any information buzz around its idol.
Joshua, for his part, is the main magnet of the heavyweight division in the "classic" boxing sense. He has 16.3 million followers on Instagram – the best figure among heavyweights, with Tyson Fury trailing by almost 10 million. In addition, Joshua leads in the number of heavyweight bouts that have broken the 1 million PPV barrier: eight times, which is twice as many as Fury.
As a result, Netflix gets two audiences at once: Paul's young digital army and Joshua's more "traditional" boxing base, which is accustomed to pay-per-view broadcasts and large stadium shows.
A Mayweather-Level Deal: How Much Will the Night of December 19 Bring?
Netflix's ambitions in boxing are not limited to a single high-profile night. Insider Mike Coppinger reported that after Gervonta Davis withdrew from the card (due to legal issues), the streaming service was looking for an equivalent replacement as an opponent for Paul. Terence Crawford, Ryan Garcia, and Anthony Joshua made the short list – and in the end the choice fell on the British heavyweight. In parallel, Netflix is working on a rematch between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao; their first fight in 2015 set a PPV market record with 4.4 million buys.
When it comes to the specific purses of Paul and Joshua, the figures differ. Initially, British media reported that the earnings would be equal. Daily Mail, TalkSport, and The Telegraph wrote about $92 million for each, while The Sun mentioned a figure of $65 million per fighter.
Then Jake Paul himself added fuel to the fire, saying: "Stop asking. $267 million." It is, of course, impossible to verify this figure, but in the history of boxing only a handful of fighters have been able to boast comparable sums. Floyd Mayweather, for example, took $275 million for the Pacquiao fight and about $280 million for the bout against Conor McGregor. Pacquiao earned roughly $150 million that night, and McGregor about $130 million.
With greater certainty we can say that Joshua will receive a record $92 million – most sources converge on this number. It is also important that he is bound by a five-year contract with DAZN as a shareholder, special advisor, and ambassador, under which he is expected to earn about $131 million in total. To "rent" Joshua for one night, Netflix reportedly paid DAZN around $13 million in compensation.
A New Order in Boxing: What Does This Fight Mean for the Future of the Market?
The Jake Paul – Anthony Joshua fight is not only a major sporting event, but also a test drive of a new model for monetizing boxing. The streaming giant is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in a show where a traditional elite heavyweight meets a media phenomenon from the world of vlogging.
If the revenue forecasts come true and this night beats the figures from last year's Tyson–Paul fight, the industry will face a new turning point: even more crossover bouts, even greater involvement of streaming platforms, and even more staggering numbers in the contracts of top fighters. The question "how much will Paul and Joshua earn?" is gradually turning into a broader one: "what is the price of star status in boxing now?" We will see the answer in the figures Netflix publishes after December 19 – and it is likely that they will become new benchmarks for the entire fighting industry.
