Boxing legend Mike Tyson once earned more than $430 million from his boxing career. However, currently, his total assets are… just $10 million.
In the book Undisputed Truth, Tyson revealed that he earned $500 for his first fight against Hector Mercedes in 1985, but actually received less than that after calculating the expenses.
“I barely made anything from the first few fights,” Tyson shared via talkSPORT. “My first fight was a loss, technically I wasn’t supposed to get paid, but Jimmy [Jacobs] still gave me $500. Then he took $50 to pay Kevin and put $350 in the bank for me, so I was left with $100.”
When he became the youngest heavyweight champion by defeating Trevor Berbick for the WBC title in 1986, Tyson earned an estimated $1.5 million. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Tyson earned an estimated $20 million in 1988 for his first PPV fight against Michael Spinks. It took him just 91 seconds to knock out Spinks and become the heavyweight champion.
According to Marca, Tyson earned $25 million in his first fight after being released from prison in 1995, defeating Peter McNeely. He earned $30 million for each meeting with Evander Holyfield. He lost the 1996 fight and bit Holyfield’s ear in the 1997 rematch.
In one of the last big fights of his career, Tyson lost to Lennox Lewis in 2002 for the heavyweight title, but still earned a staggering $103 million. According to Yahoo Sports, Mike Tyson earned around $10 million in his 2020 exhibition fight against Roy Jones Jr.
“Iron” Mike earned at least $430 million during his boxing career. However, he lost much of that due to bad investments and uncontrolled spending. Tyson filed for bankruptcy in 2003 with debts of up to $23 million.
