Despite being the highest paid athlete in the world, he does not have a single sponsor yet he looks to pocket more than $A140 million from his 60/40 split of the takings from his bout with Manny Pacquiao on Sunday in Las Vegas.
He has been the highest-paid athlete in the world for the last three years and will top his takings from 2014 of $131 million with a single bout that will see him box for 36 minutes or less depending on whether the most anticipated fight of the decade goes the full distance.
Mayweather is a particularly unlikeable character, a convicted wife beater with the almost pantomime arrogance of a wrestling villain. He calls himself ?Money Mayweather? and boasts about his wealth, power and physical conditioning with all the crassness of a Henry VIII with abs.
He belittles opponents and their ethnicity and has a mouth like a sewer rat.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the world?s richest athlete.
THE 10 RICHEST FIGHTS OF ALL TIME
1. Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Saul Alvarez, Sept 13, 2013 ? $A188m
2. Floyd Mayweather Jr. v Oscar De La Hoya, May 5, 2007 ? $170m
3. Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson, June 8, 2002 ? $140m
4. Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield, June 28, 1997 ? $125m
5. Mike Tyson vs. Peter McNeeley, August 19, 1995 ? $120m
6. Floyd Mayweather vs. Miguel Cotto, May 5, 2012 ? $118m
7. Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman, April 19, 1991 ? $100m
8. Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield, November 9, 1996 ? $98m
9. Manny Pacquiao vs. Shane Mosley, May 7, 2011 ? $94m
10. Felix Trinidad vs. Oscar De La Hoya, Sept 18, 1999 ? $80m
*Total revenue
But he seems as unruffled by public disdain as he is by the punches of 47 of his previous opponents, which, in the majority, have only hit his gloves or the shoulders that he brandishes like armour plating.
Mayweather is perhaps the canniest sportsman in history, rising from humble beginnings as the son of a small-time drug dealer.
After losing controversially in the semi-finals of the 1996 Olympics, he has been unbeaten ever since and won his first world title in 1998.
Who will win Pacquiao v Mayweather
In 2006 he rejected the biggest purse of his career, $A10 million to fight Antonio Margarito and instead paid $1 million to get out of his deal with Arum and began to promote his own bouts.
A year later, Mayweather made $31 million in a fight against Oscar De La Hoya.
Casting himself as the villain, the astronomical purses grew more and more.
In 2013 he made $100 million against Mexican Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez and has made more than $500 million in career earnings.
Mayweather has beaten the best fighters of his era, and beaten most of them comprehensively, with a mixture of speed, savvy and a radar like defence. His victims include such luminaries as De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez, Zab Judah and Arturo Gatti.
One of the few greats of recent times he didn?t fight was Australia?s Kostya Tszyu but Tszyu?s trainer Johnny Lewis says Mayweather would have beaten him too. Manny Pacquiao’s road to Floyd Mayweather fight
?I don?t think Kostya could have beaten Mayweather and even Pacquiao would have given Kostya a lot of trouble by fighting at a fast pace,? Lewis said.
?Because of his long amateur career in Russia Kostya was more of a sprinter than a stayer but he was lucky to be blessed with enormous power.
?If Kostya was going to beat Mayweather it would have to be by knockout and Mayweather has shown no signs of being chinny. It would have been a great fight, though.?
Lewis said Pacquiao would have had a much better chance of beating Mayweather ?four or five years ago when he was really firing.?
The belt that the winner of Mayweather v Pacquiao will take home
?I think Mayweather will win on Sunday,? Lewis said. ?Mayweather still has a lot left and it will be hard for Pacquiao to give the career-best performance he will need after the brutal KO he suffered against Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012.
?Mayweather should box his ears off. If he really wants to make a statement, I think Floyd has the power to even win this fight by stoppage.
?He?s the best fighter of recent times. He?s well preserved too, while Manny looks a little too battle weary. If Manny is going to have a chance he has to go flat out for the first six rounds and try to throw Mayweather off.?
Still, Lewis is circumspect about this fight?s place in world boxing history.
?As good as they are I don?t think Mayweather or Pacquiao would have been able to handle the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran or Thomas Hearns who were the big stars of the 80s,? he said.
