Floyd Mayweather Jr. turns 49 today. For most retired fighters approaching 50, a birthday means a still dinner or a social media post remembering the fight. For Mayweather, that means a spring exhibition against Mike Tyson, a $340 million fraud lawsuit against Showtime and – as of yesterday – a professional rematch with Manny Pacquiao at the Sphere in Las Vegas, streaming worldwide on Netflix.
Elated birthday, champ. Nobody retires like you.
The record still stands
Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. was born on February 24, 1977 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He turned professional on October 11, 1996, and retired – as he claims it was for the last time – on August 26, 2017, after stopping Conor McGregor in ten rounds at T-Mobile Arena. Record: 50-0, 27 knockouts, world titles in five weight categories, from super featherweight to super welterweight. No career losses. No draws. No stars to check.
The financial numbers are as immaculate as the records. Mayweather’s career earnings are estimated at over $1.2 billion, making him the highest-paid boxer in history. The Pacquiao fight alone, which took place on May 2, 2015 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, generated 4.6 million pay-per-view buys, a $72 million live event and total revenue of more than $600 million. Mayweather’s guaranteed purse was $100 million. The McGregor fight added another $275 million to the sport’s coffers, with Mayweather reportedly earning more than $275 million.
The busiest 49-year-old in boxing
Mayweather announced last week that he did coming out of retirement and returning to professional boxingsigning an exclusive contract with CSI Sports/FIGHT SPORTS. The road to a comeback begins with a spring event against Mike Tyson – reportedly scheduled for April 25 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a nod to Ali-Foreman’s Rumble in the Jungle – followed this summer by a sanctioned professional fight against an opponent whose name will be revealed.
And yesterday, the biggest announcement was made: Mayweather and Pacquiao will meet in a professional rematch on September 19 at the Sphere in Las Vegas, streaming live worldwide on Netflix at no additional cost to subscribers. It will be the first-ever professional boxing match played in the $2.3 billion stadium. Mayweather (50-0, 27 KO) and Pacquiao (62-8-3, 39 KO) have not faced each other since 2015, when Mayweather won by unanimous decision.
“Floyd and I gave the world the greatest fight in boxing history,” Pacquiao said in a statement reported by ESPN. “I want Floyd to live with one loss in his professional record and always remember who gave it to him.”
Mayweather’s response was characteristically terse: “I fought and beat Manny once before. It’ll be the same result this time.”
The event will be produced by EverWonder Studio, Hidden Empire and Limitless X Holdings. Pacquiao Promotions and Mayweather Promotions are listed as partners alongside CSI Sports/FIGHT SPORTS. Card details and ticket information have not been released.
Lawsuit
Mayweather’s birthday celebration comes three weeks after he filed a $340 million lawsuit against Showtime Networks and former Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza. The lawsuit, filed in California and first reported by TMZ Sports, alleges that his former manager and advisor Al Haymon orchestrated a financial fraud involving Showtime in which at least $340 million of Mayweather’s career earnings were transferred to accounts he did not control. Haymon is not listed as a defendant.
Mayweather competed in eight pay-per-view events under the Showtime banner, generating an estimated 15 million in buys and over $1 billion in revenue. The lawsuit claims Showtime still owes Mayweather $20 million for his 2015 fight with Andre Berto. The case follows a pattern as aged as sport itself. A Paramount spokesman told ESPN the claims “lack legal and factual basis.”
What does the 49th look like?
Mayweather, who turns 49 today, is not the Mayweather who beat Pacquiao at 38. He hasn’t fought professionally in almost nine years. His exhibition opponents since his retirement – Tenshin Nasukawa, Logan Paul, John Gotti III – have ranged from mismatched to bizarre. He will fight the 59-year-old Tyson at an exhibition and then ask the commission to approve a professional fight in which his 50-0 record – the most critical artifact of his career – is truly at risk.
Whether the reason for the return is legacy, liquidity, or the straightforward inability of a great competitor to leave is a question only Mayweather can answer. The $340 million lawsuit and reported financial pressures suggest the motivation is not purely sporting. But Mayweather always understood something about boxing that his critics didn’t: business is sports and sports are business. He doesn’t separate the two and never has.
At 49, Floyd Mayweather’s credits include the Tyson exhibition in Congo, the Zambidis exhibition in Athens, a professional comeback fight TBD, a rematch with Pacquiao at Sphere on Netflix and a nine-figure lawsuit against the network that made him the biggest pay-per-view attraction in history. By any measure, this is the busiest year of any retired player’s life.
Perhaps “retired” is no longer the right word.
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