Mayweather turned pro in 1996 after winning a controversial bronze medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics. He ran his record to 18-0 and won his first world title with a technical knockout of Genaro Hernandez in 1998. Pulling the strings on Mayweather’s career was Top Rank founder and CEO Bob Arum, who has promoted many of boxing’s biggest legends including Muhammad Ali, Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao.
Floyd Mayweather poses on the scale at the
weigh-in the day before the fight of his life against Manny Pacquiao.
(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
envisioned himself as a headliner who could make “nine-figures” in one night. “Floyd wanted to take his career in a new direction,” says Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather’s long-time confidante and CEO of Mayweather Promotions. “Floyd walked into Top Rank’s office, handed them a check and the rest is history.”
Mayweather had a unique opt-out clause in his contract with Top Rank that let him pay $750,000 to get out of his promotion contract. The $750,000 price tag might seem small today with Floyd banking $105 million last year as the world’s highest-paid athlete, but in the mid 2000s his paychecks were all in the $3 million range.
Mayweather went out on his own and started calling the shots. His first fight was against Carlos Baldomir and the fight drew only 325,000 PPV buys, but Mayweather banked a career high $8 million payday, more than double what he was earning over his last fights with Top Rank. Baldomir was a warm-up for what was to come.
Mayweather operated under the “Pretty Boy” nickname his entire career. The moniker came as a result of how little he got hit due to his superior defense. But in 2007 before the biggest fight of his life, Mayweather unleashed a new name: “Money.” Mayweather’s split decision victory over De La Hoya garnered 2.48 million PPV buys and $137 million in PPV revenue. Both were records with the PPV buy record still standing. Mayweather earned $25 million, including his share of PPV revenue
The De La Hoya fight marked the first of 10 straight paydays of at least $25 million (Saturday night will be No. 11). Mayweather set up his own promotion company, Mayweather Promotions, and arranged for all of the revenue streams to flow through him for his bouts. He became a world class marketer playing a WWE character come to life, who nearly everybody hated. Mayweather didn’t care as long as you bought the PPV for his fights.
“He had the great vision to take his brand to the next level,” says Ellerbe. He appeared on Dancing with the Stars in 2007, which opened him up to a new audience. On the show, he met Mark Cuban, no slouch when it comes to marketing yourself. Mayweather picked Cuban’s brain relentless on business. “I don’t think people realize just how focused [Mayweather] is on being more successful outside the ring than he is inside,” Cuban told Forbes in 2010.
Mayweather was part of WrestleMania the following year, although he was blowing smoke with his claim of a $20 million payday from WWE. Mayweather built a massive social media following that now counts 5.9 million Twitter and 10 million Facebook fans.
Mayweather’s big score came in 2013 with his blockbuster six-fight deal with Showtime. The pact guaranteed him at least $32 million for each fight with potentially much more and will go down as the richest contract in the history of sports. The move was a no-brainer for Showtime, which was trying to raise the stakes in its blood feud with HBO. “People love or hate him, but they watch him,” Showtime Sports head Stephen Espinoza told Forbes at the time.
Mayweather’s biggest payday came for his Sept. 2013 bout against Canelo Alvarez. The fight had 2.25 million PPV buys and a record $153 million in PPV revenue. Mayweather had a guarantee of $41.5 million and earned more than $30 million on top of that from his cut of the fight’s revenue.
The 47-0 champ,
five-division world champion has generated a record $871 million in
career PPV revenue with all but roughly $40 million since he split from
Top Rank. Mayweather has netted $420 million in earnings during his
career with more than 90% of that total earned since he started calling
his own shots. Saturday’s fight is set to break every financial boxing
record in the books with Mayweather looking at a payday of $150 million
or more.
Ellerbe thinks
Mayweather’s $750,000 payment to get out of his Top Rank contract is
more than just the best investment in boxing history. “It is the best
investment in the history of sports,” he says.
