The List: boxing's biggest money earners

Two of the best pound-for-pound boxers of recent times meet in Las Vegas this weekend when Floyd Mayweather takes on Manny Pacquiao in the richest fight in history. The welterweight (147lb and under) clash between 10-time, five-division world champion Mayweather and Pacquiao, winner of 10 world titles over eight weight classes, has been six years in the making. The eventual victor of what has been billed "The Fight of the Century" will take home an emerald belt made specially for the occasion, but the record-breaking combined purse of $300m has also created waves. The bout looks set to shatter financial milestones across the board, with pay-per-view revenue expected to exceed $300m (at $89.95 per view), anticipated gate receipts of over $70m, and ringside tickets going for as much as $7,000. Here we count down some of boxing's previous big-money moments.

1. Jack Johnson vs James Jeffries (1910)

Six years after he had retired undefeated, Jeffries returned to the ring to take on the newly crowned heavyweight champ Johnson, the first African American to claim the title. Though boxing was still illegal in many states at the time, public appetite for the sport was such that a film of the contest, "The Fight of the Century", was shown in movie theatres across the US. Jeffries' share of the film rights was bigger ($66,666 to Johnson's $50,000), but it was Johnson who won the fight, and the largest share of the record $101,000 purse.

2. Gene Tunney vs Jack Dempsey (1927)

This heavyweight clash in Chicago is remembered for controversy - Tunney, the reigning champ, was knocked down (and many believe should have been counted out) before getting up to defeat the legendary former champ Dempsey - and for achieving record gate receipts. At $2.7m, it was the first event in entertainment history to break through the $1m and $2m barrier. It would be 50 years before the record was surpassed in the boxing world.

3. Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier (1975)

One of the most celebrated contests in boxing history, the "Thrilla in Manila" was also the first fight to be shown on pay per view television (some believe the broadcast broke the million-dollar mark on its first outing) - a model that would come to revolutionise the sport's money-earning potential. The contest, promoted by the controversial Don King, also entered the political arena when the Filipino president Ferdinand Marcos supplied a chunk of the guaranteed purse - which totalled $6.5m - in a bid to distract the world from his nation's political turmoil. The fight, the third between these bitter rivals, ended in victory for Ali.

4. Larry Holmes vs Gerry Cooney (1982)

King's hand was also evident in the provocative campaign to promote this fight between the black heavyweight champion Holmes and his white challenger Cooney, which traded on the fact that there hadn't been a white heavyweight champion for 22 years. The men were guaranteed a record $10m each, though Holmes, who had been world champ since 1978, bristled at the idea of equal pay ("If he weren't white, do you think he'd be . . . getting the same money as me?"). King's tactics appeared to pay off when gate receipts for the contest at Caesar's Palace totalled a new high of $7.3m. Holmes won in round 13 after Cooney's trainer threw in the towel.

5. Mike Tyson vs Evander Holyfield (1997)

Tyson's comeback after a three-year jail sentence helped boxing's popularity reach new financial heights in the mid-1990s. This rematch against Holyfield became the first fight to break $100m in PPV revenue, as 1.99m viewers watched in astonishment when in the third round Tyson tore a chunk of Holyfield's ear off with his teeth and spat it on to the canvas. Tyson was disqualified and hit with a $3m fine.

Jamie Waters

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