Mayweather: “For the right price, I may come back”

By Boxing News - 06/27/2016 - Comments

mayweatherr63

By Allan Fox: 39-year-old Floyd Mayweather Jr. says might come back to boxing to fight again for the right price. Mayweather has said repeatedly that if he does fight again, it would be for a nine-figure payday.

For Mayweather to make that kind of money, he would need to take a real risk by fighting someone like Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, because there are no longer any huge names at 147 for him to fight now that Manny Pacquiao has retired from the sport to go into politics.

Mayweather is satisfied with being a promoter right now, and he’s currently not tempted to come back to fight any of the top welterweights like Tim Bradley, Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman, Kell Brook or Shawn Porter.

“For the right price, I may come back,” said Mayweather to the latimes.com. “A lot of fighters have to box. I don’t have to box. I don’t have the urge to go to the boxing gym. My urge is giving back to the sport now, helping promote the young fighters.”

Mayweather was recently interested in facing UFC star Conor McGregor in a boxing match that Mayweather felt would make a huge amount of money and bring in a lot of pay-per-view buys. However, McGregor opted to go in another direction instead by signing to fight Nate Diaz at UFC 202 on August 20th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

According to McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh, McGregor would have received $7 million for the fight, and the rest would go to Mayweather. If the fight brought in a massive amount of PPV buys, Mayweather would have made quite a bit of money. McGregor is reportedly still interested in the Mayweather fight, but he would want a 50-50 share of the revenue. If Mayweather agrees to that, then the money he would make might not give him the nine-figures that he would want before agreeing to the match. Mayweather could likely make good money fighting regular fighters for the kind of money he would get in a fight against McGregor if he gives him an even split of the revenue.

“There was talk that Conor would get $7 million and Floyd would get the rest of it,” said Kavanagh to the Business Post in Ireland. “It will be an even share or Conor will not do it. There is no one generating the type of media that Conor is.”

Mayweather will have a couple of months to think it over to decide whether it’s worth it to give McGregor a 50-50 deal. If McGregor’s rematch against Diaz brings a lot of PPV buys like their previous fight in March of this year, then it’s quite possible that Mayweather might be tempted to take the fight against McGregor. McGregor vs. Diaz I brought in 1.5 million PPV buy. That’s pretty impressive.

Mayweather would have to take a risky fight against someone like Golovkin for him to make that kind of money in a boxing match against a real boxer and not a UFC guy fighting for the first time in the ring like McGregor. Mayweather has shown no interest at all of ever facing Golovkin. Whether Mayweather would feel the same way if he wasn’t extremely wealthy is unclear. Mayweather’s net worth is estimated at $400 million, according to celebritynetworth.com. If Mayweather were to a nine-figure guarantee for fight No.50, he could add to that total considerably.

“People have to realize, when I look at my uncle Roger [Mayweather], and even Muhammad Ali, boxing is wear and tear,” said Mayweather. “When I look at it, I’m really thankful I was a defensive fighter. I have all my faculties, a sharp mind, and I know who I am.”

With Mayweather so preoccupied with not taking any more punishment in the ring, it suggests that he wouldn’t want to take any risky fights for him to earn the nine-figure payday that he lists as a requirement for him to come back to the sport. It would seem that McGregor is Mayweather’s best option for an easy fight where he can make a huge amount of money with no risk at all of getting hurt or knocked out.

Mayweather probably can’t make $100 million by fighting WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia, who he’s mentioned in the recent past of being interested in fighting. Mayweather-Garcia is probably not a fight that would generate $100 million in revenue. It’s likely that the only way Mayweather can get $100 million for taking on Danny Garcia is if one of the networks just gives Mayweather a bundle of money and then takes a tremendous loss on the fight.