After scoring a much-publicized victory over Canelo Alvarez in September to cap a sterling undefeated career, legendary boxer and multiple-time champion Terence Crawford has retired.
The Omaha native, known as “Bud”, compiled a 42-0-0 record over the course of his 17-year career. Crawford, who ESPN said “belongs in the conversation of the greatest fighters of all time,” won title belts in five divisions.
Along with those titles and his undefeated record, Crawford earned tens of millions of dollars in fight purses, although the exact dollar amount isn’t known.
“Every fighter know this moment will come,” Crawford said in a retirement video posted to social media Tuesday. “We just never know when.”
Nailing down how many punches Crawford has landed over his career is an inexact science. However, boxing data site CompuBox notes that Crawford landed an average of 13.2 punches per round.
The fighter boxed 257 rounds, according to boxing records site BoxRec.
Like his punches landed, Crawford’s total career purse is difficult to pin down. Still, The Sporting News noted he earned around $40 million before taking home an alleged (and disputed) $50 million from his Alvarez fight, putting his career total at a conservative $90 million.
As for the number of punches that connected over his career, Crawford’s 13.2 punches landed per round, multiplied by the pro rounds he fought during his career (257), totals an estimated 3,392 punches.
Based on a career purse of $90 million, here’s a breakdown of how much Crawford earned, on average, across several metrics:
- Per punch: $26,530
- Per round: $350,195
- Per fight: $2,142,857 (average is skewed by larger purses late in Crawford’s career).
For comparison, the Census Bureau found that the average American household earned a median income of $83,730.
Over the course of his career, Crawford earned the median household income every four punches, on average. Based on his per-round punch average, the talented fighter brought home more than four times the median U.S. household income every round he boxed. And, per fight, Crawford generated more than 25 times the median household income.
While the typical household will never make as much over its lifetime as Crawford averaged in three fights, it does have one advantage: It probably doesn’t have to take punches to earn a living.
