Floyd “Money” Mayweather made “millions” for his latest exhibition fight against Japanese MMA fighter Mikuru Asakura this weekend. The famous boxer knocked out Asakura in the second round of their match on Saturday, Sept. 25. Mayweather claims he made millions for every 60 seconds he stood in the ring.
“It’s always a few million a minute,” he said during an interview reported by The Daily Mail. “From this exhibition alone, I’ll make somewhere like $15-20 million. He added, “So it’s cool. Nine minutes, $20 million. Not bad.”
The 45-year-old said the fights these days are purely for entertainment and allow him and his fans to reflect on his glory days.
“I wasn’t able to do a real fight in Japan but they love when I do exhibit. They love for me to come over and perform,” he explained. “It gives them a little bit of a chance to see the old Mayweather. It’s a great feeling.”
‘Great Money’ From Exhibition Fights
The champ with a net worth of $450 million frequently flaunts his wealth on social media for all to envy. He said although he makes “great money” from exhibition fighting, he wound “walk away completely” if there was a chance he’d adsorb more physical contact.
“I am not going to put myself in a position where I am getting brutally beaten or I am taking punishment,” he explained. “I’m not going to fight just anyone though because I am not going to put myself in a position where it is rough and tough.”
He said the key is “working smarter, not harder,” in order to withstand in the boxing ring. It’s what helped him become more knowledgeable in life. With a superb record of 50-0 in official bouts, he explains that he “had great career because the less I get hit the longer you last.”
He concluded with, “As long as I am not taking any punches I am going to keep dong exhibitions and have fun.”
Title After Title
Mayweather has held world titles in various weight classes since his 1996 debut against Roberto Apodaca, who was also KO’d in the second round. He defeated Manny Pacquiao in 2015 and Connor McGregor during his infamous retirement match in 2017. In previous exhibition fights, he’s defeated Tenshin Nasukawa, Don Moore, and YouTube star Logan Paul.
In another interview with SportMail, the officially retired boxer touched on the drastic change in “recording-breaking numbers” of viewers who have pay-per-view cable. He said feedback from an article showed that his successor in boxing’s pound-for-pound best hierarchy, Saul “Canelo” Alvaerez, was struggling in terms of sales.
Canelo’s first match against boxer Gennady Golovkin did 1.3 million, while the rematch sold for 1.1 million, according to TalkSports. Both aired on HBO, but their trilogy fight received the lowest numbers, at between 550-575,000 pay-per-view buys in the U.S.
‘That’s very, very low,” said Mayweather. “For a fighter like Canelo, it should be at the very top. It should be doing at least a million homes.”
He continued, “So it’s changed drastically. With Logan Paul, I was able to do over a million homes, so that was good. Pay-per-view has changed drastically, and people are finding a way to watch the fight without paying.” He added, “It really hurts the fighters.”
