What is a boxing purse, and how is it decided?

Whenever boxers meet in a professional fight, there is much talk about the ‘purse’ on offer.

But what is it?

Well, a purse is the total amount of money the boxers will be paid.

For Usyk v Fury on Saturday, for example, the prize money is reported to be about £150m ($190m).

How do fighters split the money?

For championship fights under a given sanctioning body, the boxers’ promoters usually come to an agreement as to how much each side will receive. Normally, the champion is entitled to a larger split of any revenue.

In situations where the two sides can’t agree, it will sometimes go to a “purse bid” and the process is opened to any promoter who would like to put on the fight.

Any registered promoter can bid to secure the rights, the match and its undercard. The promoter who makes the highest purse bid is awarded the fight. They would then have to produce a deposit before any action.

When Tyson Fury was due to face Wladimir Klitschko as a mandatory challenger for the WBA belt in 2015, the two fighters’ representatives could not agree on how to split the purse.

So the WBA ordered them to put the fight to a purse bid, allowing other promoters to make offers. Shortly afterwards, the two teams came to an agreement.

When YouTuber Jake Paul faced former world champion Mike Tyson in a controversial fight in 2024, the purse was undisclosed. However, it was reported to be approximately $60m (£47.9m) – with two thirds going to Paul.

While a purse is essentially the prize money, the recipient is decided before a winner is declared.

Frank Smith, CEO of Matchroom Boxing, told BBC Sport: “Purse bids are great in many ways, because it shows the true value of a fight.

“There have been times where promoters have promoted fighters and they haven’t agreed terms with their own fighters, gone to purse bids and it’s proven that the offer that was being made was fair and right on the basis of what the market was saying.“

Where does the money come from?

There are various income streams that will contribute. That can include ticket sales, pay-per-view purchases and other sponsorship and broadcast revenue.

Streaming service Netflix hosted the Tyson v Paul fight, and said viewing numbers peaked at 65 million concurrent streams.

Do fighters keep all of their split of the purse?

No. Depending where the fight is held, there will be various taxes to pay.

Each fighter will then give a percentage to their manager or adviser, then there is the promoter to pay. Those outgoings could be as much as 50% of a fighters’ earnings.

There are also trainers and cut men to pay, plus any other expenses a fighter may incur in preparing for a fight.

It is important to remember that while names like Fury and more recently Paul make headlines fighting for purses worth millions of pounds, this is not the norm.

In the UK, professional boxers beginning their career can expect anywhere from £650 to £2,600 per fight, or from £3,250 to £6,500 per fight in the mid range – and that’s before expenses.

“Boxing, for 90% of the participants, is a very hard business to be involved in without having some kind of other job,“ said Smith.

“The money is very difficult at the lower end of the scale and it takes a lot of work and effort to get to the heights of what we see from people who have become pay-per-view stars.”