On this day in 2018, Floyd Mayweather topped the Forbes list of athletes as the highest earner - and his bout with Conor McGregor was the reason why.
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American boxer Floyd Mayweather divides opinion like few others in the sport. The man with the 50-0 professional record deserves respect for his achievements in the sport. What’s more, he’s shown a keen aptitude for the business of boxing too. However, there are a number of fans who dislike his defensive style of boxing. In recent years, Mayweather has alienated even more traditional boxing fans with his penchant for farce. On Sunday (June 6), he is set to face YouTube sensation Logan Paul in an exhibition bout. Amazingly, this is not the first time he has been involved in such a bout.
On this day in 2018, Mayweather topped the Forbes list of athletes as the highest earner. Let us now look back at the bout that helped him land on top of the list.
The match, dubbed “The Biggest Fight in Combat Sports History”, took place on August 26, 2017 at Las Vegas, Nevada. Amazingly, it was a traditional boxing match.
It is also worth noting that it was McGregor’s first bow in the sport of professional boxing. His success in the world of MMA and UFC was undeniable – but this was different.
MMA allows you to utilise hands, knees, feet and win in a multitude of ways. Boxing, despite being a combat sport, is very different from the world of mixed martial arts.
This was something McGregor knew too, since he trained hard for the bout. Many expected it to be a walkover but that wasn’t the case; The Notorious One gave a good showing inside the ring.
Unsurprisingly, it was Mayweather who walked out with the win. Thus, his professional record went to 50-0 – one better than the record of legendary pugilist Rocky Marciano, with whom he was level prior to the match.
However, that would ignore the main point of this bout: money. Lot’s of it, to be precise.
The money Mayweather was guaranteed to make stood at 100 million USD, with McGregor’s standing at 30 million USD. That is significant money, and not without reason either.
The bout had the second-highest buy-rate in pay-per-view history. The live gate for the event itself stood above the 55 million USD mark.
Yet the money Mayweather pocketed was significantly more. He made a whopping 275 million USD from the fight. McGregor earned 130 million USD, which is less than Mayweather made but still not an insiginificant amount.
His bout against Logan Paul will not have the stakes of the McGregor fight. After all, this bout is an exhbition one and Mayweather is retired from active competition. Still, it’s more money in the bank for the head of The Money Team.
