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.
In fact, his net worth is a reported $400 million after revenue from licensing deals.
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"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.
“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.
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