By Jake Donovan
If Floyd Mayweather remains true to his word, then Saturday night will be his last night as a prizefighter, after which he will devote all of his time and attention to the continued growth of Mayweather Promotions. The last call comes against former titlist Andre Berto, with their 12-round World welterweight championship clash headlining Saturday evening at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
With his team insisting throughout the promotion that the upcoming Showtime Pay-Per-View event will signal the end of his career, Mayweather has finally stepped back just enough to reflect on his 19 years in the pro ranks. His first championship win came in Oct. ’98, stopping the late Genaro Hernandez, at the time the top-rated super featherweight in the world.
From there title wins at lightweight, super lightweight, welterweight and super welterweight, in addition to his becoming the richest fighter in boxing history. His six-fight deal with Showtime alone has generated in the vicinity of $750 million in revenue, nearly 10 million PPV units sold and twice breaking his own box-office record at the live gate.
All of that fits into his “Money” persona, to which Mayweather loves to play up at just about every turn. But with the finish line in sight, the reigning pound-for-pound and box-office king points to the mental and physical preparation that has allowed him to remain at the top for nearly two full decades.
“I only can get better and I'm still learning in this sport,” Mayweather (48-0, 26KOs) insisted during Wednesday’s press conference at the MGM Grand. “No fighter in history has been in more big fights than me. No fighter in history has beaten more champions than me.
“Is it over? Absolutely not. Today, I push myself to get to 49-0 on Saturday.”
The fight comes on the heels of the richest event in sports history, when he outpointed Manny Pacquiao over 12 rounds this past May. The May 2 bill was a gigantic money-generating machine, destroying every monetary record in boxing, marks that will likey never be touched.
As his own promoter, Mayweather walked away with well north of $220 million—some figures have him taking him $250 million—and could have easily just called it a career at that point.
Instead, he chose to honor the final bout of his current agreement with Showtime rather than sit at home in silk pajamas.
“I'm always going places mentally that other fighters can't go because they're busy focusing on things that aren't important,” Mayweather states in what separates himself from everyone else in the ring. “What's important to Floyd Mayweather? Family. Legacy. We're prizefighters. Of course we're here to fight for a prize.”
When asked by Showtime’s Brian Custer how he’d like to be remembered when all was said and done, Mayweather was brief in his remarks.
“A remarkable fighter inside the ring and one hell of a business man outside of it.”
Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com
Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
Facebook Page: JakeBScene
