After watching a few female boxing matches with a couple of
rising stars, I wondered how much the Female Pro Boxer makes each year. The
answer may shock you, and make you want to be a Female Pro Boxer yourself.
How much do female pro boxers make? Female Boxers can earn anywhere between $200-400 dollars per match at a lower level. The money can raise depending on their weight class, sponsors, and fighting records. The Median is $51,370 for professionals annually.
Down below, we’ll cover how these things can affect the
payout, as well as which female pro boxers made the most in their career.
How Does Weight Play a Factor?
With each weight class that a boxer moves up to, the harder
the competition becomes. This is in terms of things like punching power,
fighting experience, and some serious strategies that have been reviewed time
and time again to get to that level. With this being said, it’s not uncommon
for a female boxer to see a good pay raise come their way for their efforts.
Training to get to a higher weight class can take years to
nail down, and the accomplishment itself is something to feel proud of. This
also makes it a good deal easier to get sponsors because they notice the
determination to move up and go farther.
The farther they go up, the more they start to make a name
for themselves and increase their income.
How Do Matchups Affect the Salary?
Boxing is famous for pitting the best against each other.
Many people want to see boxers with an impressive fighting record, and this
makes the matchups a great deal more interesting for viewers. Heavyweight
certainly gets the most attention with the class being infamous for its boxers
having more than enough fighting experience to back up that right hook if it
misses its mark.
A female boxer can expect to see $200-$400 dollars per fight
at smaller levels. The fighting record determines what opponents they will be
facing with higher winning streaks meaning a possible heftier payout than the
lower levels.
There are 17 different classes for women in their division,
with only 3 being available in the Olympics. Heavyweight for women is 175lbs,
where the male division usually starts at 200lbs. Each division comes with its
own set of strict fitness standards that all boxers must follow to stay in
those categories.
Alejandra Jimenez is the current female Heavyweight Champion, with net worth being estimated from $11Mil. She is the second female Latina boxer to win a world championship in her heavyweight class and got the title after beating its first recipient Martha Salazar. She has a high winning fight record, with 11 wins out of her 12 fights, and one draw.
How Do Sponsorships affect the pay?
Big-name brands may keep an eye out for potential talent that’s rising through the ranks. This gives them a way to help push out their products by putting them on someone in the public eye. You’ll notice that many high earning boxers, both make and female, have a fair amount of sponsors supporting them in every fight.
These can also take some money out. Just by ordering
t-shirts, hats, and shorts can take some money out of what they’ve earned. A
simple hat can cost $5,000 for some boxers.
How Do They Get Sponsors?
Many sponsors will camp out at many fighting events. Even in some boxing gyms, but that isn’t as common as seeing a reputable company in the crowd at events. The possibility of nabbing a better sponsor, or just one, to begin with, gets better along with the weight level.
They won’t really care for someone who hasn’t had a good
amount of matches under their belt. Every beginning boxer is striving to get
their attention, and many often fail from burning out from the start. Maintaining a consistent win rate is key for
most boxers looking to gain any sort of sponsorships.
Their requirements are going to vary, as will their payouts, and the cost it takes to actually get the chance to work with them. Social media is also a great way for female boxers to gain solid ground for getting sponsors. Social profiles allow the boxers to routinely update their fans and showcase how competent they are in their profession.
For those that are looking for a place to sponsorships at a
lower level, there are many websites that allow you to connect with coaches and
promoters aside from sponsors. Boxers also have to promote their loyalty to the
brand as one of their ambassadors, and will have to keep a good image up inside
the rings and out for the contracts to stick long term.
What Kind of Sponsorships Are Available?
There are tons of possible sponsors
out there that are looking for new fighters to sponsor. Some of these companies include:
- Hayabusa
- Tatami
- Gameness
- Garden Of Life.
Some companies may only sponsor females, giving them an edge
by cutting out a good portion of the competition. These days, the companies are
geared towards how much of an influence the fighter can give their brand. The
better the boxer connects with their fans and promotes the material they wear
inside the ring, the bigger the payout provided to them.
How Much Do Female Pro Boxers Spend?
Seeing how a boxer technically isn’t an employee of the
commissions hosting the fights, that
means they have to pay for things out of pockets such as:
- Travel Expenses
- Insurance
- Training costs
You can tell that until a female boxer reaches the
pro-levels that it can be difficult to receive a steady income. Yearly costs could add up to thousands just
for a fight that could land them a few hundred dollars, making the sponsors a
vital part of their career if they want to do it long term.
Female boxers will typically pay their trainer 10% of their purse, and another percentage goes to their manager. In some states, the percentage could be 1/3rd of the pay they make for each match. This isn’t unreasonable, as the manager is responsible for scheduling flights, and negotiating contracts with future sponsors.
Who Are Some of the Best (and Best Paid) Female Pro
Boxers?
There have been a plethora of women that have made it big by
turning boxing into their career. Many
of these big names include:
- Lucia Rijker
- Cecilia Braekhus
- Laila Ali
- Regina Halmich
- Ann Wolfe
These are women who high a very high win streak, with a few
loses under their belt. This greatly helped them gain more sponsors, and many
of their professional’s bouts were televised in their countries, and even
worldwide. Each boxer has multiple titles under their name that carry a lot of
influence with advertisers.
Sponsors know these boxers are safe bets. Their
world-renowned titles can bring in a lot of money for whoever they decide to be
a brand ambassador for. One of the most notable, Laila Alli, is the 8th child of Muhammad
Ali himself.
This could have given her a suitable boxing reputation right
off the bat, and it’s not unrealistic to say that many were wanting to see if
she share her father’s talents. With all 24 of her matches being a win, and 21
of them being TKO’s, it is very apparent she’s her father’s daughter.
Cecilia Braekhus has an even more impressive record, with 31
matches undefeated, she has more than earned her belts, which she has defended
over 20 separate times.
Amateur Salary vs. Pro Salary
The gap between an amateur salary and a pro salary can be
dramatic, and it may take a few years of trial and error with sponsors to even
reach a livable wage. Below, we will list the salaries for boxers in both
leagues
| Amateur | Pro |
| Low: $19, 220 | Low: $22,000 |
| Median: $35,584 | Median: $51,370 |
Take these numbers with a grain of salt, as they can vary from weight level and promoters, to even state estimates. What separates these two salary ranges is the prior skill that has been shown in the ring, and how well the boxers are able to connect with a wider audience
How Much Is It Compared To Men?
A female boxer that is just beginning can stand to make
$200-$400 a fight. Men can get paid $2,500-$5,000 for the same factors. One of
the main differences between the two categories are the champions, and how many
of them there are that are consistently branded throughout their career.
How Could They Get Paid More?
Women’s boxing hasn’t seen the same mass success that Men’s
boxing has. This means that women don’t have the same access to promoters and
televised events as their male counterparts, which affects their overall
salary.
A good way to draw in more crowds for women’s boxing could be a sports crossover with MMA-Star Ronda Rousey. The Men’s league did this by bringing over the best MMA fighter, Connor McGregor, to fight one boxing’s best champions, Floyd Mayweather.
Ronda would essentially have to be trained in boxing and use her MMA experience to help her in the ring. This has the potential to bring in millions of viewers and expose big-name female boxers that people will remember.
A female boxer may also receive a better boxing income if
she were to have boxed in the Olympics. This would seal the boxer in as highly
skilled, seeing how she has represented her country in international
competitions and may have a fanbase that’s ready to see her career grow outside
of the Olympics.