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Irish boxer Katie Taylor’s big win earlier this year against Amanda Serrano apparently has had big marketing implications.
London-based media company SportsPro released its annual list of the most marketable athletes in the world on Monday, and Taylor was ranked No. 47 – the first boxer to appear on the list.
Other pugilists on the top 100 list included undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez at No. 64, undefeated WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury at No. 75, and former unified heavyweight titlist Anthony Joshua at No. 88.
In 2021, SportsPro named Alvarez as the world’s No. 4 most marketable athlete. He was the highest ranking male on the list. The only other boxer to appear on the top 100 list was Gervonta Davis at No. 75.
In 2020, SportsPro named Ryan Garcia as the No. 12 most marketable athlete. Joshua was No. 31, and Fury was No. 32.
The top 10 ranked athletes in 2022 featured the following stars:
1. Cristiano Ronaldo, Soccer
2. Serena Williams, Tennis
3. Lewis Hamilton, Motorsport
4. LeBron James, NBA
5. Lionel Messi, Soccer
6. Naomi Osaka, Tennis
7. Virat Kohli, Cricket
8. Alex Morgan, Soccer
9. Sam Kerr, Soccer
10. Tom Brady, NFL
There were no MMA fighters in the 2022 top 100 list.
SportsPro released the following statement explaining their rankings:
“To compile this year’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes list, SportsPro partner NorthStar Solutions Group led a multi-disciplinary team with expertise in sports, marketing, social, and data science. Specialist partners D-Tag Analytics, SponsorPulse and Zoomph all contributed key metrics that fed into the scoring system that shaped the final ranking. An added layer of insight from consumers and experts helped ensure the robust validity of the underlying numbers.
“Athletes were ranked according to a ‘Marketability Score’, which is split into three distinct scoring components: brand strength, economics and audience. Designed to accurately evaluate an athlete’s marketability, the ranking is not just based on social media followership or reach, but also takes into account an athlete’s social impact, charitable endeavours and influence on the triple bottom line. To compile the final list, more than 700 athletes who met the criteria in were tracked and analysed across their key metrics in 2022.”
The 36-year-old Taylor (21-0, 6 KOs) is a 2012 Olympics gold medalist who fended off Serrano in a disputed split decision as the main event at Madison Square Garden in April. The bout is on the shortlist for fight of the year contender.
The undisputed lightweight champion Taylor is set to return to the ring against Karen Elizabeth Carabajal (19-0, 2 KOs) at the Wembley Arena in London on Oct. 29.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com.