Cristiano Ronaldo, Canelo Alvarez and Lionel Messi headline Sportico's definitive 2025 ranking of the world's highest-paid athletes.

A major fight night in Riyadh on September 12 will mark Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez’s return to competitive boxing after a long layoff and recovery, setting the stage for a new chapter in his career.

Neither Messi’s goals nor his World Cup titles could stop the financial rise of Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez at the start of 2026.

Former super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will make his return to the “sweet science” for a “big fight” against an opponent to be named atop the “Mexico Against the World” event on Sept.

Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto, appear in the Top 10 of the highest paid athletes of 2025 after signing multimillion-dollar contract.

The top-rated middleweight contender has already entered negotiations with former unified titlist Gennadiy Golovkin, in a bid for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) middleweight title which was recently stripped from World middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.

Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez undoubtedly had one of the most difficult years of his career in professional boxing. His first fight in 2025 against William Scull in Saudi Arabia was one of

Canelo remains well ranked with all four sanctioning bodies at super middleweight – number one with the WBO, WBA and WBC and three with the IBF – and will not struggle to land a title shot assuming he chooses to remain in the division.