Former WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury made $147 million in 2024, putting him at #3 among the highest-paid athletes in 2024. The 36-year-old Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) lost both of his fights to Oleksandr Usyk, looking off his stellar form from 2020 at the zenith of his career.
THE GYPSY KING’S GOLD
The $147 million that Fury made doesn’t equate to his actual ability, as he didn’t perform like a fighter worthy of that kind of money. What he made was due to being well-liked by Turki Al-Sheikh and from what he did many years ago when he was still firing on all eight cylinders.
Fury’s net worth is $250 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, and he could easily double that number to $500M if he gets off his backside to return to the ring. He’s got lazy due to all that money he’s socked, and his ambition has evaporated.
If Tyson had John D. Rockefeller’s work ethic and desire to make money, he’d already be hard at work, training feverishly for his next fight. However, Fury is nothing like the American industrialist or other great Gilded Age tycoons, JP Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, and Cornelius Vanderbilt.
Sportico’s Highest-Paid Athletes in 2024
Cristiano Ronaldo: $260 million
Jon Rahm: $218 million
Tyson Fury: $147 million
If the Gyspy King chooses to come out of retirement for two fights against Anthony Joshua in 2025, the money he would make would surpass his $147M figure for last year.
What’s weird is the value that Fury provides in terms of actual entertainment doesn’t come close to matching the dough he’d be getting paid. He would be getting overpaid massively for what he has left in the tank.
Fury is an example of a fighter who gained his fame from one big win 10 years ago against an over-the-hill Wladimir Klitschko and was then matched selectively during a weak period in the heavyweight division.
It would have been interesting if Fury had become a star if he never fought Wladimir and instead fought Anthony Joshua, Martin Bakole, Agit Kabayel, Zhilei Zhang, Usyk and Daniel Dubois earlier in his career.
In Fury’s loss to Usyk in their rematch on December 21st in Riyadh, he would have been beaten six or seven of the top heavyweights in the division. The absolute truth is Fury was never that good, to begin with. Once you get past Deontay Wilder and 39-year-old Wladimir Klitschko, his resume is barren of names.
