Floyd Mayweather wants everyone to know that his victory over Marcos Maidana didn't only push his unbeaten record to 46-0, it also landed him an enormous payday.
In addition to the guaranteed $32 million he took in from the fight, Mayweather boasted on Instagram that he expects another $38 million from the pay-per-view buys. That would boost his total take from the bout to a clean $70 million.
Unfortunately for Mayweather, that figure is probably unrealistic. Kurt Badenhausen of Forbes broke down the calculations and figured that unless pay-per-view figures were off the charts, Mayweather's take will probably be significantly less than $70 million.
Mayweather's much-hyped September bout with Canelo Alvarez netted 2.2 million pay-per-view buys, making it only the second in history to top 2 million (the first was Mayweather's 2007 fight with Oscar De La Hoya). Maidana didn't bring the same name recognition or excitement as Alvarez, and many experts expect this fight to generate closer to 1 million or 1.5 million pay-per-view buys.
Assuming the realistic best-case scenario of 1.5 million buys, Badenhausen notes, Mayweather would probably collect around $50 million from the fight. Still not a bad take, but not exactly what Mayweather is hoping for.
An extra $20 million is always nice, but Mayweather should be able to pay the bills without it. His career earnings topped $400 million after the Maidana fight, and he's made at least $25 million in each of his last nine fights. According to a recent ESPN The Magazine profile, Mayweather keeps much of his fortune (some $123 million) in his lone bank account.
