“It’s a truly blessing to be in that position to make that kind of money. Floyd has worked hard to put himself in this position. He deserves every penny of it. He’s the only athlete that has dominated his sport for the last 15 years, and now he is fighting the best guy he can possibly fight.”
The fight with Mexico’s Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KOs) is the second bout of a megadeal that Mayweather (44-0, 26 KOs) signed with Showtime/CBS before the Guerrero fight as he left behind career-long television partner HBO/Time Warner. The 30-month deal is for up to six fights and worth in the $200 million neighborhood.
“Showtime/CBS made it known they wanted to be in that Mayweather business,” Ellerbe said. “These are the things we talked about with Showtime/CBS when he made this deal, and they have really stepped up to make this possible. When we signed this deal and told people we had the biggest deal in sports history some people said, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah.’ But we were not kidding.”
Mayweather’s haul for next week’s fight could wind up even greater than $41.5 million if the pay-per-view, which some believe can challenge the all-time buy record of 2.44 million and revenue record of more than $130 million that Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya set for their 2007 showdown, goes through the roof and there is still profit after Showtime/CBS make it into the black.