MANILA, Philippines – Floyd Mayweather Jr. is looking at a cash windfall of $250 million for his recent one-night stand with Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand.
Mayweather stands to earn for one single fight what some if not most of the great athletes in other sports earn in their entire careers.
If the computations are as accurate as they seem, Mayweather, the richest athlete today, will spend days or weeks if he wants to count the money himself.
Or unless he hires a dozen men with a dozen electronic counting machines to do it for him.
David Mayo of MLive.com, who has covered Mayweather from the time he first climbed the ring, said the 38-year-old Mayweather can actually earn $250 million for the fight.
Mayweather beat Pacquiao on points and stretched his unbeaten record to 48. He remained as the pay-per-view and pound-for-pound king. Sportshub ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
Pacquiao, who was guaranteed $80 million for what was billed as the ?Fight of the Century,? can end up earning twice as much.
Mayweather was guaranteed $120 million.
The 36-year-old Filipino superstar hasn?t seen a paycheck as big as this one. His previous high for a single fight, unofficially, is in the mid-20s (in millions of dollars).
But the May 2 showdown broke all existing records in boxing ? money wise. Now both fighters are getting much more than what they had hopes for.
From the pay-per-view sales to live gate receipts, from closed-circuit and merchandise sales to overseas TV rights and other sponsorships, it?s one for the books.
It sold 4.4 million in pay-per-view sales, almost doubling the previous high of 2.48 million for Mayweather vs Dela Hoya in 2007.
The live gate receipts, where the cheapest tickets sold for $1,500 it did almost $72 million, putting the old record of just over $20 million for Mayweather?s fight with Canelo Alvarez to shame.
After the fight, Mayweather said he?s ?blessed? and Pacquiao is ?blessed.?
Inside the ring, after the decision was announced, Mayweather must have told Pacquiao to forget about the result because ?We both made a lot money.?
Mayweather calls himself ?Money? and he loves to flaunt it.
Pacquiao, on the other hand, said it?s not always about the money.
?Ang importante ay makita ang mga Filipino na nagkakaisa at sumusuporta sa akin (What?s important to me is to see Filipinos unite and rally behind me),? he said.
