Mayweather planning comeback, wants $350 Million in 2020

By Boxing News - 03/05/2020 - Comments

By Allan Fox: Floyd Mayweather Jr. is in the UK this week for a tour try and attract interest from boxing fans in his potential comeback in 2020. Mayweather Jr. has fought in 3 years, and he’s hoping to earn $350 million this year.

Speaking in front of an audience that paid to see him talk in Essex, Mayweather pointed out that the $300 million that he made for his last fight against Conor McGregor in 2017 wasn’t enough. He wants $350M for possibly 2 fights, which could be against MMA fighters Khabib Nurmagomedov and MacGregor.

In Mayweather’s last fight against an MMA guy, he stopped 20-year-old kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in the 1st round in an exhibition match on December 31, 2018. It was a disappointing affair due to the look of competitiveness.

Mayweather wants $350 million for 2020

“Once I took over my own career, my first fight I made eight figures,” said Mayweather during his promotional tour. “I was already making $7 million, $8 million, $8 1/2 million. But as soon as I became my own promoter and my own boss, I made eight figures instantly.

“From eight figures, we went to making upwards of $32 million per fight. Then I said to myself, ‘It’s not enough.’ So we then went from $32 million to $50 million. Then I said, ‘It’s not enough.’ Then I went from $50 million to $100 million, and I said, ‘It’s not enough.’

“We went from $100 million to $300 million, and I said, ‘It’s not enough.’ Now we’re over $300 million to $350 million, and hopefully, we can make that this year,” said Mayweather.

It would be a surprise if Mayweather can make over $300 million in 2020, as he’s been inactive. You would think that fans would prefer to see active boxers fighting MMA guys rather than someone who hasn’t fought in three years. The last entertaining fight that Mayweather was involved in was his 2014 rematch with Marcos Maidana. That was competitive and fun to watch. All of Mayweather’s fights since then have been dull and lacking entertainment value.

In Mayweather’s last 4 fights, he’s fought these guys:

  • Manny Pacquiao
  • Andre Berto
  • Conor McGregor
  • Tenshin Nasukawa – *exhibition match

It’s smart for Mayweather to be looking to face McGregor and Nurmagomedov on the same night because he’s likely to burn his bridges entirely with his next mismatch. Once fans see Mayweather beat up on McGregor or Nurmagomedov, they won’t want to pay to see him the fight again. That’s why it’s a good idea for Mayweather to package them together.

MMA fans will want to see Mayweather fight McGregor and/or Nurmagomedov 

You can’t rule out a lot of MMA fans purchasing a fight between McGregor and/or Nurmagomedov against Mayweather in 2020 matches conducted under the rules of boxing. Even though the fights would be terrible mismatches, a lot of MMA fans would pay to watch the fights.

Boxing fans probably won’t because it’s not interesting to watch the 43-year-old Mayweather beat up on MMA fighters with no skills for the sport. Fans want to see Mayweather take on opposition that has a chance of beating him, and there’s no way that any of the MMA guys could compete with Mayweather. It doesn’t matter if Mayweather is roughly only 30% of what he once was, that’s more than enough to beat the likes of McGregor and Nurmagomedov.

Mayweather’s last professional fight against MacGregor brought in 4.3 million pay-per-view buys on August 26, 2017. MMA fans purchased the fight thinking it would be a competitive one, but it wasn’t. It resembled a glorified sparring session with Mayweather appearing to take it easy on McGregor, who was making a debut in boxing. The much-criticized Nevada State Athletic Commission sanctioned the Mayweather-McGregor.

Floyd’s inactivity may hurt his career

Mayweather has arguably hurt his own career and potentially crippled it beyond the point of no return by making the following BIG mistakes:

  • Not fighting for 3 years: Mayweather last fought in 2017
  • Only fighting MMA guys and NOT keeping his boxing career alive. Even damaging than staying out of the ring for three is Mayweather’s decision to shut down his boxing career entirely and choosing to fight ONLY hapless MMA guys, who have had no clue in how to box. Instead of fighting part time s a boxer, which is what Mayweather should have done, he retired from fighting professional boxers and focused exclusively on hustling fights against MMA fighters with no background in the sport.

Mayweather is said to want to take on McGregor and Nurmagomedov on the same night in a 2 for 1 type deal, and that sounds ridiculous. Trying to promote a fight like that would be hard to do because the promoters of the event would basically be tipping off the MMA and boxing public that it’s a mismatch.

Fans admire McGregor and Nurmagomedov for their talent in the UFC, but you have them both taking on Mayweather in back to back fights on the same night, it’s an insult to them. It devalues both of them and gives the impression that the 43-year-old Mayweather is better than he actually is at this point in his career.

Mayweather has shutdown his boxing career

The former six-division world champion Mayweather would likely lose to better than half of the top welterweights now, as well as a number of 140-lb and 154-lb fighters. He’s not the same guy he once was, and that’s why it looks bad for Mayweather to be hustling fights against guys with no background in boxing.

Mayweather’s not the equivalent of a pool shark, someone that fools a person into playing for money when they’re much better than them. In the MMA guys, they obviously know what they’re getting themselves into in facing Mayweather. They obviously know they have little chance of beating Mayweather. You can argue that the people that are suckered are the fans that pay to see Mayweather’s boxing/MMA crossover fights.

If Mayweather had the sense to keep fighting against boxers, his fights against MMA guys might continue to make him big money for a number of years, but he doesn’t want to do that. He’s completely shut down his boxing career, and that makes a lot of fans view Mayweather as an opportunist. His fights against MMA guys aren’t fair, and they’re entertaining aside from the build-up.

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