Why Is Maywheather so rich?

Because he was very smart and so was Al Haymon. Floyd grew up in a family that not only understood how to train in boxing, but also they had become experts in the business of boxing.

Unlike many who will be the first in their family to break through into paid boxing, Mayweather had none of that wonderment for the business, he had seen his father and uncle on posters from a young age, been to some glitzy venues, been to some ‘sawdust on the floor’ venues, seen the rise and fall, so basically he had his own observations and the wisdom of people around him to learn from.

Of course, in the beginning, he got well trained but being noticed in a family of illustrious boxers was not going to be easy. So, the first reason he got rich was because of his attitude. He has amazingly high expectations of himself, so he trained and studied very hard.

People forget that in the beginning, he didn’t earn incredible money, he was on the same pay grade as every other up and comer. But, he had great connections in the industry and used them and that’s how he was introduced to another guy out to make a name for himself, Al Haymon. Al made it his goal to shift the balance of boxing power from Mexico back to US, because since Tyson, there hadn’t really been a crossover boxing megastar and the Mexicans were winning titles. Al wanted to own the boxing talent in the US, but not be their manager, Floyd was sick of being owned by Bob Arum and so it was a perfect union. Al intended to become a kind of ‘fixer’ and work around the ‘Ali Rule’ and to do that he needed to build up a story of success he could sell to other boxers. In Mayweather Al saw a motivated and capable boxer he could work with to establish both their businesses.

Mayweather strung together some good wins and won world titles well before he was globally known. But the main thing that this did, is get him positioned for a mega fight and his moment of arrival was against De La Hoya. De La Hoya was a good and well known boxer, he was handsome, had good pedigree and spoke well enough to get attention. Mayweather got the win and so, another reason he is rich is because he is actually a very good boxer. This point is proven after by the names he beat to get to 50–0, there were some very good boxers on his resume.

Just before the De La Hoya fight Mayweather made two moves that truly made him rich. Firstly he adopted a new persona, he realised that in all combat sports people are entertained by personalities and that standing out meant playing a role. The ‘pretty boy’ thing was Bob Arums crass and unoriginal marketing, so he wanted rid of that. He had to pick a route, stick with the ‘pretty boy’ image being pushed upon him up to that point and attempt to carve out a hero role or adopt a new persona. He chose to be the Villain and rode the wave of some minor misdemeanours that had made the news and the ‘Money’ brand was born. This persona made him the one everyone wanted to see get beat and somehow it worked. Oddly, people made him rich by always backing his opponent and praying on Mayweather’s downfall.

The next and most crucial thing he did at this time, is promote himself. He had seen how the Bob Arum model worked and was not happy with the way De La Hoya was the A-Side in their bout, so he decided he wanted to be the boss. With Al in the background pulling the strings and surrounded by people who knew how to stage boxing events, he did deals with TV outlets to ensure he ran the shows. He was now the boss, which meant he could name his cheque, as long as he could sell out shows and PPVs. His fight with Ricky Hatton was a great example. It was perfect, Ricky had a massive fan base, Mayweather was the man everyone wanted to see get beat, the numbers were always going to be good and so it proved. Straight after this the major networks wanted a slice of the future action and signed him up to a huge multi fight deal which didn’t cap his earnings, but guaranteed a minimum. By the time he fought Berto, he was soo well funded that the show was likely to lose money and he still walked away with over $30m in guarantees, and when he fought Manny Pacquiao he entered on a guarantee of $100m and ended up with even more after PPV royalties, so he was in a win/win situation.

The other thing often overlooked in Floyd’s story is his deal making skills. He used his negotiation position to control small details that gave him some edge in the fights. He would often decide on the glove brands, weight/rehydration clauses, ring size, practice times, promotions schedules, drug testing, venue etc all to give himself the best chance to win. Being the money spinner he could pretty much do this at will and it was small but important key to his empire.

He was already richer than most dream of by the time he fought Pac, having had at least 11x $25m-50m pay days. He then self actualised brilliantly with his $100m+ demands for the PAC and MacGregor fights, basically saying publicly he never fights for less, having never actually earned that kind of money before, but, as usual he made it happen and so he retired with a career earnings of around $500m and a business value in excess of $1bn based on his various promotions, businesses and image rights.