Floyd Mayweather Talks Money

Floyd Mayweather's nickname "Money" has proven to be perfect for him in the past few years. With net earnings this year estimated by Sports Illustrated at around $90 million, he beat out LeBron James, Tiger Woods and more household names for the magazine's Fortunate 50 list's top spot.

So how does he do it? In an interview with the magazine's Jon Wertheim he says he owes it all to surrounding himself with the right team.

"It takes brains to make the money. Surround yourself with brains. Leonard Ellerbe [a Mayweather advisor] has a Masters in business," he said. "Al Haymon, you know, of course, Harvard. Both are shrewd businessmen and they bring a lot to the table. I wasn't fortunate enough to graduate from high school, but I wanted to make a way for my family, so I went to the 12th grade. I was in the 12th grade. And my mom, she was in a rough situation. My family was in a rough situation. She didn't have health insurance and things like that ... we actually lived in a project building, seven people in a one bedroom apartment with no hot water. You know, my dream was always to be -- I always knew I would be huge someday. So I said, whatever it takes to put my family in a good position. So that's what I did. I always knew I would be huge."

In the interview he also spoke about what money meant in prison (not much without the freedom to enjoy it) and what he believes it can do for a person (put them in a powerful position to meet powerful people).

As for what money means to the boxer, he said it was a source of comfort.

"I'm very, very thankful for where I'm at, because I'm able to put my family in a comfortable position. I was just having a talk with my fiancee about that, because no relationship is perfect," he told Wertheim. "We go through ups, we go through downs. I was just telling her, Money is just comfort, I said. But, of course I want to have the finer things in life, and I want you to have the finer things in life."

While Mayweather did tweet out one link to the SI story on Wednesday, he seemed equally happy about the man who got a tattoo of the boxer on his back.