Anthony Joshua vs Kubrat Pulev purses and prize money as rivals take pay cut

Anthony Joshua will earn around £8million from his clash with Kubrat Pulev tonight.

The heavyweight world champion is taking a significant pay cut due to the fight taking place in front of just 1,000 fans.

But he will still rake in eight figures tonight and may see his earnings boosted if the fight does well on the pay-per-view market.

Pulev, who is Joshua’s mandatory challenger, will earn around £3m for his night’s work.

Joshua’s purses have steadily increased since he turned professional in 2013 – but this is the first time he has taken a backwards step.

The Olympic gold medalist earned £500,000 for his debut win over Emanuele Leo.

That increased every fight until he banked a staggering £46m from his win over Andy Ruiz Jr in their desert rematch last December.

That was the highest pay cheque in British boxing history, more than doubling the £20m Ricky Hatton earned for fighting Floyd Mayweather in 2007.

But although Joshua is taking a cut this time round, victory would pave the way for him to blow his record purse out of the water.

Because should he impress against Pulev, Tyson Fury will be waiting in the wings with a mega pay-day in tow.

Joshua and Fury could clash for all four world titles in May next year – and if the fight heads to the Middle East, it could inflate the purses to £100m each.

But if that fight lands in the UK, the rivals would be looking at a 50 per cent reduction.

Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn said: “We have to rely on the revenue that could be generated from the fight, via the gate and not the revenue that could be generated by a tourism board or by a Government to bring an event like that to a country, so that’s why it’s always difficult.

“It will literally be probably a 50 per cent pay-cut to do the fight in the UK and that’s how brutal it is.

“If it was 10, 20 or 30 per cent you could have the argument but you’re literally going to make half the money to do it in the UK.”