Floyd Mayweather is worth £261m: and is boxing’s biggest earner. But how did a fighter regularly booed and labelled boring come to break the bank?
In 2006, Floyd Mayweather was growing frustrated. He was 36-0, a four-weight world champion and widely considered to be one of the finest fighters in the world.
The ‘Pretty Boy’ had just beaten long-time friend Zab Judah to capture the IBF and vacant IBO welterweight world titles, pocketing £3.84million in the process.
But Mayweather was still not satisfied. After winning bronze at the 1996 Olympic Games, the 19-year-old had been snapped up by Top Rank under legendary promoter Bob Arum.
The 85-year-old has nurtured the careers of the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Muhammad Ali and he saw Mayweather as a future superstar in the sport.
He helped guide the unbeaten American to the top echelons of pound-for-pound rankings lists. But Mayweather had to make do with playing second-fiddle to Oscar De La Hoya in the Top Rank stable for much of his early career.
Having grown up amid poverty in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he wanted a piece of the Golden Boy’s eye-watering earnings. More importantly, he felt he deserved it. Six-years earlier he had branded a £9.2m six-fight offer from broadcasters HBO a ‘slave contract’.
De La Hoya, a Mexican-American Olympian from Los Angeles, was one of the most popular fighters in the world. Mayweather, meanwhile, was appreciated but far from loved.
His hit-and-don’t-get-hit mantra attracted adoration among some boxing purists. But it did not elicit excitement. He had often failed to attract big crowds and been booed by those who were inside the arena. His oft-one-sided fights became ever more uneventful as his hands grew increasingly brittle, reducing further his willingness to go toe-to-toe with opponents.
Eventually, Mayweather decided, something had to change and it was not his style.
So a decade into his career, Mayweather – a fighter often accused of being risk averse both in and out of the ring – took an almighty gamble.
Top Rank offered him more than £6m to fight the dangerous Antonio Margarito. Mayweather, who had long targeted a fight with De La Hoya, wanted £15.4m to fight the Golden Boy.
The discrepancy proved the straw that broke the camel’s back and, after years of fractious – if fruitful – partnership, Mayweather paid $750,000 (£576,350) to buy himself out of his Top Rank contract and become a free agent.
It was a pioneering and risky move. He had freed himself of the outside influences of managers and promoters. But it left him financially vulnerable. It was an expensive gamble. But long-time associate Leonard Ellerbe has since labelled it ‘the best investment in the history of sports’.
The unique deal meant Mayweather became what ESPN termed ‘a one-man conglomerate’. He decided what he and his opponent would earn from a fight as well as how much tickets and PPV would cost.
The catch? The newly-formed Mayweather Promotions had to foot the circa £7.7m bill it cost to host his fights. A promoter would be brought in to handle logistics but Mayweather was the one going all-in.
‘In everything he does, Floyd’s betting on himself,’ Ellerbe is quoted as saying in Tris Dixon’s Money. ‘He puts up the money, bets on himself and hits a homerun every time.’
Starting with his mega-fight with De La Hoya, which was then the richest fight in the sport’s history, Mayweather’s decision to go it alone proved to be inspired. He no longer needed to call out opponents. His success inside the ring meant he had become the draw.
Mayweather changed his moniker from ‘Pretty Boy’ to ‘Money’ and watched as seven-figure fees became eight and even nine digits long. By the time he beat ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley in 2010, the $2,500 (£1,921) he made for his boxing debut had ballooned to around $40m (£30.74m) for 36 minutes work.
Such was his impact on the Las Vegas economy that his 90-day prison sentence for domestic abuse was delayed so he could fight Miguel Cotto in a £77m match-up in 2012. But not even run-ins with the law and a host of one-sided fights appeared to dent his appeal.
Outside the ring, too, Mayweather had a long-term vision to expand his profile, particularly among the African-American community. Appearances on the likes of Dancing with the Stars and WWE, meanwhile, helped make him a mainstream personality.
By the time he faced Manny Pacquiao in May 2015, Mayweather had negotiated a six-fight, 30-month contract with HBO’s rivals Showtime worth a record £154m.
He had developed a reputation for flashing his cash and attracting A-List celebrities to his fights. But both he and Pacquiao were well past their peak and the bout had come around five years too late for many fans.
When the two superstars did collide, the bout followed the same pattern as many of Mayweather’s most recent. It was one-sided and anti-climatic. But it still smashed previous records to become the richest fight in the sport’s history.
‘He understands something that not every fighter has understood, but the smart ones understand: you don’t have to be loved by everybody,’ promoter Lou DiBella is quoted as saying in Money.
‘He comprehends the fact it’s not about being loved, it’s about people wanting to see you, whether it be to see you win, lose or simply because you’re good.’
Two years on, Mayweather is again facing criticism for his choice of opponent. Few give UFC star Conor McGregor hope of even landing on the unbeaten star, let alone beating him in their upcoming super-fight.
But after thousands of fans packed into four arenas for the pre-fight publicity tour, the bout is expected to be one of the most lucrative in combat sports history. Again Mayweather is the villain in the piece. And again he will be taking home the lion’s share of the £465m it is predicted to generate.
Throughout his 21-year professional career, Money has been disliked, booed, and even jailed for domestic abuse. He has recorded only two knockouts in the past 11 years as 49 opponents have tried and failed to pick his lock. But people still want to watch him. Just like he said they would.
