Why was Floyd able to move so many gotdang PPV's?

[Combat Talk Radio]

"Fan" is short for fanatic.

Has nothing to do with liking a person or not.

Floyd realize this at some point in his career (probably around the Gatti fight, but definitely by the time he bought out his contract).

He realized there was a whole urban hip hop culture boxing was largely ignoring and that he could attract many more fans- those who liked the image AND those who detested it- if he played the heel by adopting that culture.

Thus, "Money" was born. Pretty Boy was humble, was trying to be another Sugar Ray or Golden Boy. Money didn't give af about being thought well of, Money was Ali style trash talk on steroids, was sickeningly confident to the point of vanity, and dressed and walked around like a rapper.

Whether you paid because you liked Money or you paid because you wanted to see Money get what you thought was coming to him, you paid and you were a fan.

And him staying undefeated (and most importantly, making things look easy while doing so) only added to the ranks on each side.

They'll be studying what Floyd did in business marketing classes 50 years from now or even more.

He had a vision and pulled it off spectacularly.

Re: the bold. Uh, what?

The Mayweather that verbally destroyed Corrales was Pretty Boy. There was ZERO humility.

[koolkc107]

Re: the bold. Uh, what?

The Mayweather that verbally destroyed Corrales was Pretty Boy. There was ZERO humility.

Check out Floyd postfight after Corrales.

Humble as they come.

[Jedi Vader]

Hate is a more consistent & dependable emotion in people. People wanna see those they hate fail more than they wanna see people they love succeed. Floyd capitalized on that hate & made himself the biggest name in the game & arguably of all time & certainly among the biggest names of all time.

This is a very underrated comment that will easily get overlooked on this thread.

[N/A]

He became the highest paid athlete of the decade with almost no major endorsements unlike almost every other athlete on the list. His money came almost all from his ability to sell PPV buys.

How did he do it? He wasn't the flashiest fighter, not the most articulate, not the most charming. How did he become the richest boxer and possibly athlete in history?

First of all, he was an incredible boxer. The Boxrec computers have him pound for pound as the #1 boxer of all time. So all of the hype and marketing aside, it is appropriate that the greatest fighter that ever lived also made the most money.

Separate from that, he realized that as a black man, he was much better off being the villain and trying to make as much money as possible from the passionate Mexican fans who would want to see their heroes try to shut Mayweather up.

He also did whatever it took to get the current cash cow in the ring with him (De La Hoya). To become a huge PPV attraction, you usually have to beat the previous PPV attractions. He gave De La Hoya every concession. Went to the full 154 limit and beat him. At that point, Mayweather becomes the biggest star in boxing.

He runs through a ton of big names after that and also retires various times to built hype for his inevitable return. After De La Hoya, he beats Hatton, Marquez, Mosley, Cotto, Canelo, Pacquiao. A real who's who of top fighters.

[Combat Talk Radio]

Check out Floyd postfight after Corrales.

Humble as they come.

Postfight interviews should be ignored. They do not represent the fighter's true feelings.

Case-in-point:



And remember Mosley buddying up with Floyd after losing, then trashed him in interviews days later.

[Hanz Cholo]

Marketing genius who played the bad guy. That had whole nations paying to see their man Knock him out.
But would seldom get touched With his amazing boxing skills in spite of his boring safety 1st style.

[sargo]

He has charisma and impressive when not hugging/running.

[djtmal]

He was the cherrypicker's cherrypicker.

[thedarkdragon11]

Because he's that good!