The 36 year-old is preparing to put his unbeaten 46-0 record on the line against another unbeaten young superstar in 43-0-1 Alvarez and stands to make even more once the pay-per-view numbers with Showtime are crunched.
“Floyd is the biggest star in the sport and the best in the sport, and when you’re the biggest star and you are the best, you get paid the most money,” Ellerbe explained to ESPN about the huge purse. “So this comes along with the territory.”
The cheque Mayweather is scheduled to cash after his September 14 bout at the MGM Grand is almost $10m more than the pound for pound best earned for his latest fights with Robert Guerrero and Miguel Cotto respectively. Totalling the three purses together means that Mayweather has taken home a staggering $105.5m in just sixteen months for what could amount to just over an hour and half in the ring.
“It’s a wonderful thing. Floyd has put boxing on his back and crossed over. He took a niche sport and went out there and marketed a persona (‘Money’) in the mainstream world and became the highest-paid athlete in sports,” added Ellerbe.
Floyd Mayweather v Saul Alvarez is live on BoxNation in the UK. To subscribe click on any BoxNation link or banner on the WBN website.
