WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KOs) tweeted today his last two checks for his fights against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in September 2013, and Marcos Maidana last May of this year.
Grand total, Mayweather hauled in $72,276,000.00 for just two fights. This is an amazing number given that it came in just two fights. Mayweather’s September 13th rematch with Maidana is expected to bring him another $30+ million for that fight.
That’s not even a huge fight. Mayweather stands to make a lot more in rematches with Miguel Cotto and Canelo. Those are obviously the fights that Mayweather needs to be trying to get rather than wasting his time fighting welterweights like Maidana, Amir Khan, Kell Brook, or Keith Thurman.
Mayweather really has no big names for him to fight at 147 anymore after he cleaned out the division. The only guy really worth fighting is WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, but he sealed his fate when he chose to re-up with Top Rank through 2016. Pacquiao could have fought Mayweather after his contract with Top Rank expired at the end of 2014, but Pacquiao instead re-signed for another 2 years.
Some boxing fans wondered why Pacquiao didn’t choose to fight Mayweather for one fight after his contract expired and then immediately re-signed with Top Rank after that. At least Pacquiao would have gotten a career-high payday before re-upping with Top Rank in what could be his final two years of his career.
Mayweather is down to his last 3 fights on his Showtime contract. His contract will be up by the end of 2015. If Mayweather wants to maximize the amount of money that he makes in his final 2 fights after the Maidana bout, then he needs to face Cotto and Canelo in 2015. Those fights could bring Mayweather as much as $40 million for each fight.
With two $40 million purses, Mayweather would end up with $80+ in theory for Cotto and Canelo fights in 2015. That’s a lot better than if Mayweather were to face one of the welterweight contenders and end up with two checks for a little over $30 million for each fight. Mayweather could make an extra $20 million by facing Canelo and Cotto in 2015 instead of the likes of Khan, Brook and Thurman.