Legendary boxing announcer Michael Buffer can often be seen with a very noticeable grin on his face as he stands inside the ring – and for good reason.
Buffer's signature catchphrase "Let's get ready to rumble" has earned him worldwide fame. In fact, after coining the iconic line in 1984, he later acquired a federal trademark for it.
After trying his hand at several other careers, including acting and modeling, he eventually found his talent in boxing – a sport that has earned him millions of dollars.
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In fact, his net worth is a reported $400 million after revenue from licensing deals.
"Before boxing I was a car salesman but I was horrible at it and had to make a living elsewhere," Buffer told The Sun.
“For quite a while I was a model and then aged 38 I started as a ring announcer - but at the beginning if you said I was horrible at that as well, it would have been a compliment.
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“I was pretty dreadful on my first night as an announcer as back in those days the scorecards were written in a very strange way so that didn’t help and some of the fighter’s names were unpronounceable."
It is believed that depending on the fight, Buffer earns between $25,000 and $100,000 every time he utters those five famous words, according to CelebrityNetWorth.
They also claim that the veteran has been paid $1 million on a handful of 'extremely' rare occasions.
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The American announcer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2008 but surgery was successful and he continued to work his magic in the ring.
"I'm actually a survivor of throat cancer so I'm very, very careful with my voice." he told The Daily Mail in 2016.
"I'm eight years recovered now. I was actually ready to retire at that point but I was very lucky to have surgery and the right doctors. I didn't have to have chemotherapy or radiation and 30 days after surgery I was back to work."
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Topics: Boxing
The SPORTbible Team