(Photo credit: Showtime) By Allan Fox: Floyd Mayweather Jr. (43-0, 26 KO’s) will reportedly make a guaranteed $200 million if he’s able to finish his six-fight deal with Showtime/CBS in the 30 months for his contract, according to Forbes.com. With his pay-per-view cash, Mayweather could end up with more than $250 million for those six fights.
However, six fights are a lot for the aging 35-year-old Mayweather, and the odds of him finishing the six-fight deal in 30 months is questionable. It’s like one of those huge long-term contracts that are given out to NFL players where they might complete three or four years before they’re cut after they suffer an injury or they start showing signs of decline.
Mayweather turns 36 this Sunday, and he didn’t look really sharp in his last fight a year ago against Miguel Cotto. Even if Mayweather is still at the same level he was for that fight, he’s going to have problems against the best fighters in the welterweight and junior middleweight division.
It’s likely there’s going to be some decline in Mayweather’s abilities from his last fight when he faces Robert Guerrero on May 4th. Staying inactive for long stretches of time isn’t a good thing for any fighter, but especially for an aging welterweight like Mayweather.
The question is whether Showtime is guaranteeing Mayweather the $200 million for six fights even if he starts taking losses. If they can dissolve the deal if Mayweather starts getting beaten, then this won’t be a good deal for Mayweather. If it’s guaranteed money then Mayweather has nothing to worry about. He’ll get paid just by fighting six times, and the outcome will be irrelevant.
That’s a bad deal for Showtime, and you would have to think they were smart enough to insert a release clause in the contract if Mayweather gets old overnight. The thing with Mayweather is by the time he fights in May, he’ll have been out of the ring for an entire year, and he may a much different fighter than he was in his last bout against Cotto.
Asking for the aging Mayweather to fight six times in 30 months may be impossible at this stage in his career. All it’ll take is him losing his motivation after getting a big payday, and going into another disappearing act like he’s been doing steadily since 2007 when he started getting the big money.
Even if Mayweather doesn’t dash off to spend his loot after each fight there’s still a possibility of him suffering injuries that will make it very difficult to get the six fights in within the six month time frame. If this was a younger fighter in his 20s then it would be no problem, but Mayweather is aging and he could soon start suffering injuries that delay his fights.
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