Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez is the only boxer to crack the top 100 sports athletes by earnings made from the last year, according to research and data from Sportico, with heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and polarising YouTube crossover star Jake Paul boxing's second and third biggest earners.
MMA's Conor McGregor topped the latest list, making $28 million in salary/winnings and a staggering $108 million on top of that in endorsements.
Canelo, who has fought twice so far this year as well as once in December for a busy last few months, is an impressive 12th in the sporting list with a total of $63 million earned.
Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico confirmed on Twitter that Joshua and Paul narrowly missed out on the top 100 with earnings around $20 million apiece, despite the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down sports for almost half of 2020.
Paul responded to this tweet, warning: "oh we just getting warmed up".
Paul defeated retired basketballer Nate Robinson and former UFC grappler Ben Askren in the last six months, neither of whom had boxed before their losses to the brash celebrity. Canelo and Joshua, meanwhile, are unified world champions at super-middleweight and heavyweight respectively, and actively seeking to earn full undisputed champion status by the end of 2021.
As a result, expect all three to chart higher this time next year — especially if, as expected, Paul challenges retired unbeaten great Floyd Mayweather Jr. after his exhibition on June 6 against Jake's older brother Logan Paul.