Floyd Mayweather bet on himself long before becoming boxing’s wealthiest star.
In 2006, ‘Pretty Boy’ was making a name in the sport with the help of Top Rank founder and CEO Bob Arum, who famously promoted Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and Manny Pacquiao among other greats.
Mayweather was earning around $3million per fight, thanks to his perfect 36-0 record and status as the IBF welterweight champion, when he decided it was time for a change.
According to his long-time confidante, Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather viewed himself as a headliner capable of making more than $100million in one night.
“Floyd wanted to take his career in a new direction,” Ellerbe told Forbes in 2015. “Floyd walked into Top Rank’s office, handed them a cheque, and the rest is history.”
Mayweather had an unusual opt-out clause in his deal with Top Rank that let him get out of the promotional contract by paying $750,000.
It may not seem like a lot to the boxing legend now, but back then, it was a huge gamble and the start of a new phase of his career, which came with a new nickname.
‘Money’ lived up to his moniker straight away as he sold 325,000 pay-per-views and banked a career-high $8million payday for his fight with Carlos Baldomir in November 2006.
The cash kept flowing for the rest of his career, and he made £25million for his very next fight – a split decision win over Oscar De La Hoya in May 2007.
Together, they did 2.48million PPV buys and $137 million in PPV revenue.
Mayweather beat 13 consecutive fighters who were reigning or former world champions, with many of them featuring on the Ring Magazine pound-for-pound list.
Baldomir had the WBC welterweight title, and De La Hoya owned the WBC light-middleweight belt before running into Mayweather.
The gamble truly paid off when he made $25M to fight De La Hoya a year laterAFP The money got bigger from thereFloyd Mayweather - InstagramFormer WBA and IBF light-welterweight king Ricky Hatton became his next victim when he moved up in weight to challenge for his WBC welterweight title.
Juan Manuel Marquez and Shane Mosley didn’t have any belts when they fought Mayweather, but they had both been world champions in multiple weight classes.
Mayweather won back his WBC welterweight belt from Victor Ortiz before dethroning WBA light middleweight champion Miguel Cotto in his very next fight.
Two-weight world champion Robert Guerrero came next before he famously outpointed Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, who held the WBC light-middleweight belt at the time and has since gone on to become undisputed at super-middleweight.
Mayweather beat WBA welterweight titleholder Marcos Maidana in back-to-back fights before making a gargantuan amount of money against eight-weight champion Manny Pacquiao.
Another win over former WBC and IBF welterweight titleholder Andre Berto followed before Mayweather signed off with a 50-0 record after earning his best payday ever against UFC superstar Conor McGregor.
Mayweather made around $40million for his win over Canelo2013 Golden Boy Mayweather signed off with a $350M payday for fighting a boxing debutantGetty His clash with Pacquiao sold more than any fight in boxing historyGettyFloyd said in 2020: “Tell me another fighter that, in just two fights, made $650million. For Pacquiao, I made $300million, for McGregor I made $350 million.”
Mayweather’s fights with Pacquiao and McGregor are the two biggest-selling boxing events of all time, with combined sales of 8.9 million.
Ellerbe thinks Mayweather’s $750,000 contract buyout is ‘the best investment in the history of sports’ and it’s hard to disagree when you see how much money he made after leaving Top Rank.
Seven years on from his retirement, Mayweather is still boxing and making millions for exhibition bouts with influencers like YouTuber Logan Paul and Geordie Shore star Aaron Chalmers.
It’s believed he made around $65million for fighting Paul in 2021.
Mayweather last fought in August 2024, when he battered John Gotti III from pillar to post in a rematch of their controversial inaugural encounter, which was stopped due to excessive trash talk.
His current net worth is estimated to be around $400m and growing.
He generated over $1.2billion in the paid ranks and continues to rake in the dough from his large property portfolio.
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