Canelo Alvarez was listed as one of the highest earning athletes of 2022 by Forbes this week. The Undisputed Super Middleweight Champion was ranked eighth on the list, just above Tom Brady. According to the list, he made a total of $90 million in pre-tax earnings over the past 12 months.
Alvarez made over $40 million from each for his fights with Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant, and an additional $5 million from his partnership with Hennessey and his taco restaurant in Mexico. His fight with Dmitry Bivol in April was not considered within the time bracket.
The former pound-for-pound king is the highest earning boxer this year and the only boxer on the list. In 2021, he was ranked No.48. Other boxers featured on the list in recent years include Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
Canelo Alvarez in 2021
The bracket accounted for by the 2022 list primarily covers 2021. Last year, Alvarez had one of his most successful and lucrative years to date. He fought three times in 2021, following an unusually inactive year in 2020, where he fought only once, against Callum Smith.
In addition to Saunders and Plant, Alvarez also fought Turkish boxer Avni Yıldırım in early 2021. The bout was his first title defense for the WBA (Super), WBC, and The Ring Super Middleweight Titles.
Alvarez's super fights with Saunders and Plant then carried him from being one of many super middleweight champions to being the only man who had claim to a world title in the division. He is the first boxer in history to unify the weight class.
In 2021, Alvarez found his place among the best super middleweights of all time, a division which has included the likes of Roberto Duran, Michael Nunn, Sugar Ray Leonard, Chris Eubank, Steve Collins, and Nigel Benn. In order to fight Dmitry Bivol in 2022, he moved up to light heavyweight where he had previously earned a world title. However, he lost the fight and will likely move back down to his own division.
Check out the full fight between Canelo Alvarez and Billy Joe Saunders here: