How Much Will They Earn?

Andy Ruiz Jr. fights Damian Knyba in the heavyweight main event at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The former unified world champion is looking to make a comeback under the man who gave him his life-changing opportunity, Eddie Hearn, and Matchroom Boxing.

The official purse figures for the fight have not yet been made public, so any amounts that were circulating before the bout should be regarded as estimates. Nevertheless, Ruiz’s most recent disclosure of his earnings, the terms of his new promotional deal and the scale of the event do offer a reasonable ground on which to predict what both heavyweights could earn.

In July, Ruizentered into a three-fight deal with Matchroom and is serving as the main attraction at the third edition of The Fight, the promotion’s monthly series, which is shown in the United States on TNT, truTV, and DAZN.

How much could Andy Ruiz Jr. earn?

Ruiz is expected to get the vast majority of the main-event purse. A reasonable estimate of the amount guaranteed to him is between $1 million and $1.5 million, and his total earnings could go up if his contract contains broadcast, sponsorship, or performance-related bonuses.

Ruiz’s current market value corresponds to that range; he was given a disclosed guarantee of $1 million for his victory against Luis Ortiz in 2022, and the 2024 draw with Jarrell Miller on the Crawford-Madrimov undercard had a disclosed purse of $900,000.

Although Ruiz earned much larger amounts at the height of his career, specifically in the rematch against Anthony Joshua in 2019, Knyba is more of a building fight as he hopes to get back into title contention and earn the big paydays.

Even though Matchroom had to pay a sufficient amount in order to have Ruiz as a headliner for his multi-fight comeback, his name recognition, together with his former champion status mean that a guarantee in the seven figures is still a reasonable figure after his two-year absence.

How much could Damian Knyba earn?

Knyba’s purse is going to be a lot less, and a guaranteed amount of about $150,000 to $300,000 would be realistic for the Polish heavyweights, who have a record of 17 wins and 1 loss, but have no championship record or drawing power as Ruiz does.

The 30-year-old did not accept the assignment until after the New Jersey commission had rejected Ruiz’s first choice, Piotr Lacz. Since he had already been preparing for a different fight when the opportunity with Ruiz arose, this fight has become the most high-profile of his career.

The fact that the deal was arranged at short notice might have improved Knyba’s negotiating position, so he will be at the upper-end of the estimated purse.

According to those estimates, the main-event fighters could receive a total guaranteed purse ranging from $1.15 million to $1.8 million.

Zuffa was interested in signing Ruiz and they are paying a lot of money to fighters to build their stable. Therefore, Matchroom definitely opened up the checkbook to snag the Mexican star from Dana White.