Biggest Fights of 2025: Boxing’s Blockbuster Year In Review

The year 2025 stood out as one of the most commercially successful and culturally significant in modern boxing.

From crossover spectacles like Anthony Joshua vs. Jake Paul to elite championship clashes such as Terence Crawford vs. Canelo Álvarez, boxing has delivered a calendar year that resonated far beyond its traditional audience.

While crossover fights have often been met with scepticism from fans, fighters, and media alike, the data from 2025 shows exactly why promoters and broadcasters continue to pursue them.

There has been an increase in such fights over recent years, with the most recent one of Joshua vs. Paul in December. The appetite for traditional heavyweight bouts is, however, clearly as healthy as ever — with upcoming boxing fights also continuing to attract huge interest from fans.

Anthony Joshua Vs Jake Paul emerges as 2025’s Second Biggest Fight

Terence Crawford vs. Canelo Álvarez placed top of the list and fulfilled years of fan debate by delivering a true pound-for-pound super fight. Generating roughly 1.5 million searches and attracting a strong live attendance of over 70,000 at the Allegiant Stadium, the bout was always going to rank high on the list. The fight purse of $200,000,000 also compares strongly with the biggest value fights such as Joshua vs. Paul and Usyk vs. Dubois.

Anthony Joshua vs. Jake Paul sits as the second biggest boxing event of the year. By pairing heavyweight legitimacy with modern influencer reach, the fight generated over two million Google searches, drew nearly 20,000 fans in attendance and boasted a reported $267 million purse. The bout’s dominance across search interest and pay-per-view metrics showed how these events can elevate boxing into new markets – making the sport’s bosses plenty of money in the process.

Third-ranked Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois II represented boxing in a most traditional and credible sense. The heavyweight rematch drew the highest attendance figure of the year with 90,000 spectators, and with a $200 million purse, plus a strong commercial performance, the fight reaffirmed that no matter how the sport changes, elite championship boxing will always capture the imagination.

Ranking fourth is Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conor Benn.  Fuelled by generational rivalry and national interest, the fight attracted over 67,000 live spectators at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. That high turnout went some way towards the matchup’s eye-watering purse of $22,500,000 on a night when Benn won by unanimous decision.

Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano III completes the top five, ranking far and away as the biggest women’s fights of the year. 19,700 attended the Madison Square Garden epic as Taylor emerged victorious, scoring 95-94 on all three judges’ scorecards.

Further down the list, Manny Pacquiao vs. Mario Barrios demonstrated the enduring drawing power of a true global legend, even this late into his career. Callum Smith vs. Joshua Buatsi appealed to hardcore fans with 25,000 people turning out, while David Benavidez vs. David Morrell Jr. nodded to the sport’s future.

Collectively, these fights defined 2025 as a year where boxing succeeded on multiple levels at once.

Biggest Fights of 2025 – Rankings Overview

Rank 1: Terence Crawford vs. Canelo Álvarez – Final Score 94

Rank 2: Anthony Joshua vs. Jake Paul – Final Score 90

Rank 3: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois II – Final Score 76

Rank 4: Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conor Benn – Final Score 38

Rank 5: Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano III – Final Score 10

Methodology

Search volume, attendance and purse data was collected from Google Keyword Planner, the World Boxing Association website and major sports publications.

These figures were then weighted and indexed to rank the year’s top fights from biggest to smallest. Where figures are not publicly available, values may be estimates which do not necessarily reflect real life.

Purse Sources: The Independent, MKU, Sports Illustrated, The Standard

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