Anthony Joshua named among sports money bags of 2020 in Britain

 

Nigeria born British boxer Anthony Joshua has recorded the biggest rise in fortune in sport, £58m  over the past year.

The Sunday Times Rich List has revealed the wealth of the 1,000 richest people in Britain and a year of mixed emotions for AJ certainly sees him come out on top financially.

Joshua’s 2020 net worth now stands at £107m following a lucrative second half of 2019 that saw him set out to win the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles following a shock loss to Andy Ruiz Jr in June.

While his fortune is way off Lewis Hamilton’s £224m net worth as the richest sports star in Britain, the boxer is second to only Gareth Bale (£114m) in the Young Rich List.

Sport dominates the Young Rich List of those aged 30 or under, claiming 18 of the 50 places.

But AJ is the only one of the 18 who has not made his fortune playing football and with a £58m rise in his wealth, he has seen the biggest increase in the past 12 months.

Joshua pocketed £18m at Madison Square Garden despite being overpowered by Andy Ruiz Jr last summer.

The unified heavyweight king was dethroned after Ruiz delivered a stunning seventh-round knockout.

Unsurprisingly, Joshua was keen to avenge his embarrassing defeat and activated the rematch clause which would see one of the biggest boxing rematches in recent history.

The December rematch at the purpose built Diriyah Arena in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, saw Ruiz let down his fans with a poor display as Joshua won via unanimous decision.

A record 1.6m UK household paid £24.95 ( about N12,000) each to watch it live and he earned an estimated £60m from the fight before tax and deductions.

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Several endorsement deals add further to his annual income, leading to a fortune now estimated at £107m.

That victory saved AJ’s career, and with his record at 23 and one from his 24 pro fights to date, he is now set for bigger and better things in the latter half of 2020.