Anthony Joshua is set to part with around £32million in taxes from his £68.5million share of the prize purse after the British heavyweight knocked out Jake Paul
Anthony Joshua is preparing to hand over a substantial chunk of his earnings after knocking out Jake Paul in their heavyweight showdown.
The British boxer sent Paul crashing to the canvas in round six of their clash at Miami’s Kaseya Center on Friday evening. Yet even in victory, the 36 year old conceded his performance against the social media star-turned-fighter left room for improvement.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Joshua acknowledged: “I deserve it,” when asked if he expected criticism for allowing Paul to last six rounds. He added: “Because we are elite fighters, if I put myself in the shoes of a coach, if my fighter did six rounds with Jake Paul, I would get him back in the gym tomorrow, give him a bit of a beating and get straight back to work. I’d be like, ‘How are you letting this kid take you six rounds? Are you crazy?’
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“But I can’t go back in time, but credit to him, he done well. I told him what would happen but it just took six rounds to do it.”
Despite Joshua’s frank self-assessment, the two-time unified heavyweight champion has good reason to smile after banking a hefty payday. Sources indicate he and Paul shared a prize pot estimated at roughly £137million equally between them.
Referee Christopher Young brought proceedings to a halt at 1:31 of the sixth round, with Paul (12-2) and Joshua (29-4, 26 KOs) having competed for a combined 989 seconds. Reports indicate that each fighter earned £68.5million from the bout, meaning the British boxer raked in roughly £69,000 per second, or £4.1million per minute, during his time in the ring.
However, Joshua won’t be keeping all his earnings from the Netflix event. As a UK resident, the Watford-born fighter must fulfil tax obligations on both sides of the Atlantic.
According to AceOdds, 37 per cent of Joshua’s purse, approximately £25.6million, will go directly to the IRS. While Florida has no state tax, he’s still liable for US income tax at the highest rate, as the fight took place on American soil.
Joshua must also settle the difference between his total UK tax liability and the US tax already paid, which comes to roughly £5.5million owed to HMRC. A further £1.4million is due for National Insurance contributions, bringing Joshua’s total tax bill to around £32million.
Despite this, Joshua maintains that money wasn’t his main motivation for taking on the Paul fight. “It’s not even my biggest payday; it’s not about money,” he said.
“For me, it was more about the opportunity. I had to showcase my skills to the world.”
