Floyd Mayweather proclaims he changed the whole dynamic of fighter pay as the boxing legend continues to bank the big bucks.
‘Money’ earned over one billion dollars in the final five years of his career. It was an unprecedented amount of paychecks in that climate.
Signing the biggest-ever deal in the sport with Showtime, Floyd Mayweather paved the way for Canelo Alvarez to do similarly today.
Discussing how he became the most successful athlete of his time, Mayweather spoke to The Pivot Podcast panel.
“I changed the whole dynamic of how athletes get paid,” Mayweather said. “I’ve been fighting since Michael Jordan was playing basketball.
“I was undefeated from then to now. LeBron James’ career is almost over, and I’m still getting paid.”
FLOYD MAYWEATHER DREAM
The 45-year-old is a proud black man. Therefore, he wanted to be revered by his boxing family [father Floyd Sr. and uncle Roger], the fans, and his fellow competitors.
Outlining this, the five-weight world ruler stated: “I wanted my dad to be proud of me first, before anything.
“When my dad would say that ‘my son will break all the records,’ that stuck with me.
“On top of that, I wanted my own people to be proud of me. There’s nothing like that feeling.
“I’m more than the ‘American Dream.’ I’m my own boss. I do what I want to do, and I say what I want to say.
“If I feel that something is not right, then I’m going to speak on it.”
Mayweather did just that when leaving Top Rank and fighting for his future. He even paid for his release and took a chance on himself.
It worked, and the rest is history. Canelo is now reaping the benefits of that through his deal with DAZN and others.
Phil Jay – Editor of World Boxing News since 2010 with over one billion views. Follow WBN on Twitter @WorldBoxingNews.
