How much money did boxing legend Floyd Mayweather generate on Pay Per View throughout his remarkable boxing career?
World Boxing News has crunched the numbers regarding the actual takings Mayweather banked without taking anything away to make purse payments or event costs.
Mayweather amassed an incredible amount of cash throughout his career and continues totaling at least eight figures every time he steps into the ring. This will continue on August 24 when he fights John Gotti III in a rematch on Mexican soil.
Floyd Mayweather’s career PPV earnings
There’s long been an insistence from his team or the media that ‘Floyd Mayweather is boxing’s first billion-dollar man.’ Well, WBN can reveal that this is undeniably not the case. Mayweather is at least the sport’s first Billion-Dollar Man three times over if you take all the money from every sale of his PPV fights and add it together.
Floyd Mayweather made $1.8 billion in sales in the United States alone. His three billion at the worldwide box office proves he’s on his own in the paid platform stakes. Pay Per View buys featuring the five-weight king since his debut on the platform in 2005 at an average purchase price of $75; you’d even come to numbers north of $1.8 billion in US revenue.
Then, if you consider Mayweather’s other career purses and contract factors, the amount easily surpasses the two-billion-dollar mark in the United States alone. Worldwide sales of every event in hundreds of countries certainly exceed three and possibly into four, depending on how deep you delve.
It’s quite a dumbfounding statistic, and Mayweather has at least one billion in his pocket. Floyd’s Showtime contract alone made over one billion dollars from 14 million total buys [if you include Conor McGregor].
Floyd Mayweather – Total United States PPV Sales:
Jun 25, 2005 – Arturo Gatti vs. Floyd Mayweather (HBO 340k)
Apr 8, 2006 – Floyd Mayweather vs. Zab Judah (HBO 375k)
Nov 4, 2006 – Mayweather vs. Carlos Baldomir (HBO 325k)
May 5, 2007 – Oscar De La Hoya vs. Mayweather (HBO 2.4m)
Dec 8, 2007 – Mayweather vs. Ricky Hatton (HBO 920k)
Sep 19, 2009 – Mayweather vs. Juan Manuel Márquez (HBO 1.06m)
May 1, 2010 – Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley (HBO 1.4m)
Sep 17, 2011 – Mayweather vs. Victor Ortiz (HBO 1.25m)
May 5, 2012 – Mayweather vs. Miguel Cotto (HBO 1.5m)
May 4, 2013 – Mayweather vs. Robert Guerrero (Showtime 1m)
Sep 14, 2013 – Mayweather vs. Canelo Álvarez (Showtime 2.2m)
May 3, 2014 – Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana (Showtime 900k)
Sep 13, 2014 – Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana II (Showtime 925k)
May 2, 2015 – Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao (HBO/Showtime 4.6m)
Sep 12, 2015 – Mayweather vs. Andre Berto Mayweather (Showtime 400k)
Aug 26, 2017 – Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor (Showtime 4.3m)
Mayweather’s money-making numbers
The numbers are staggering. Most of which can add another 500 to 800k for worldwide distribution. Nobody has been generating those numbers since the days of closed-circuit TV without the home box office angle.
If you consider that Mayweather took several breaks during his tenure, some lasting over a year, the final total could have been over five billion dollars. Mayweather is and was money, no matter how you look at it.
Next month, at the age of 47, Mayweather will do it again, knowing that he only has to promise the fans a fight to put another huge check in the safe. Despite his ‘Heist Tour’ failing to materialize, Mayweather doesn’t need it. He can pick and choose when and who he fights and still does not bat an eyelid when considering the figures.
Mayweather earns one million dollars for most of his press conference appearances, making him far and away the most lucrative boxer ever.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
