Floyd Mayweather will earn a guaranteed $22.5 million purse for Saturday night’s clash with Shane Mosley, a WBA welterweight (147 pounds) champion whose guaranteed $7 million will be more than three times less than Mayweather’s.
The amount of the purse for Mayweather (40-0, 25 knockouts), confirmed by Nevada State Athletic Commission director, Keith Kizer, is believe to rank second, alltime, in the sport only to the guaranteed $24 million given to James Buster Douglass for his third-round loss to Evander Holyfield in October of 1990 at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.
Douglass’ value was boosted as a result of his 10th-round knockout of Mike Tyson in February of 1990, which set him up for the big pay day against Holyfield.
Mayweather is expected to reap close to $40 million after all of the HBO pay per view numbers are totaled, which would fall short of Oscar de la Hoya’s $54 million earned after his May, 2007 loss to Mayweather.
“Love him or hate him, the guy is a super star. He did double the pay per view numbers that de la Hoya did [in his loss] to Pacquiao. That’s a fact,” said Richard Schaefer, CEO of de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.
Schaefer didn’t recall what de la Hoya’s highest purse was, but said that he was sure that it wasn’t as high as Mayweather’s guarantee.
“We’re seeing numbers for this fight with Mosley that I’ve never seen, by the way. The guy’s average for pay per view home buys is a million and a half,” said Schaefer. “Love him or hate him — and there are a lot of people in either one of those camps — he’s the reason that you hear me making these bold predictions.”
Schaefer has said that he believes that Mayweather-Mosley could surpass the record 2.4 million buys, believing that their match up could do “four million buys.”
“Numbers don’t lie,” said Schaefer. “So far, I’ve been right.”
