The super-welterweight champion recently attracted 50,000 fans to the AT&T Stadium in Texas as he defeated Briton Liam Smith to regain a world standing for the third time and cement his place among the elite.
Canelo rival Gennady Golovkin remains at number two, whilst Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev are at three and four respectively ahead of their light-heavyweight super-fight later this month.
Here’s how the Top 10 appears (September rating bracketed):
1. Canelo Alvarez (1): The Smith fight generated somewhere in the region of $20m through gate and event revenue.
2. Gennady Golovkin (2): Paid $3-5 million for his win over Kell Brook in September.
3. Andre Ward (4): Earning big money and the chance to become pound for pound king against Kovalev.
4. Sergey Kovalev (5): As above against Ward.
5. Wladimir Klitschko (3): Remains the highest heavyweight earner despite a full year of inactivity.
Picture by Esther Lin
6. Keith Thurman (7): Earned $1.4m for his win over Shawn Porter and likely to at least claim that figure again when fighting Danny Garcia next year.
7. Deontay Wilder (6): Lost out on $4.5 million when his fight with Alexander Povetkin was called off at the last minute but is still the highest earning active star in the top division.
8. Terence Crawford (8): Took home a cool $1.3 million when defeating Viktor Postol and could land a massive fight with Manny Pacquiao in 2017.
9. Roman Gonzalez (-): Made $400,000 when winning yet another world title in a different weight class against Carlos Cuadras.
10. Errol Spence (9): A $250,000 cheque landed in Spence’s bank account for his win over Leonard Bundu in August, adding to the American’s reputation as a future star and soon-to-be massive cash taker in the sport.
All monetary figures are courtesy of Forbes.
