Floyd Mayweather Jr celebrated his 50th unbeaten bout and his retirement by joining the exclusive sportsman’s billionaire club as the third member.
Mayweather’s $300-million pocket money from his Las Vegas fight with Irishman Conor McGregor put him the same class as Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.
Mayweather has hung up his gloves with 27 knockouts included in his phenomenal unbeaten 50 fights, and at 40 he’s been one of the world’s best for two decades.
Prizemoney of $740 million far outweighed his sponsors and endorsements.
And no doubt Mayweather Promotions will continue to rake in the cold hard for many years.
Jordan (52) and Woods (41) were in exactly the opposite company, with sponsors and endorsements far outweighing their contract and/or prize money.
But a billion is a billion whichever way you look at it. It’s a figure that’s very hard to get your head around.
Not surprisingly Nike has made a major input into both their bank accounts.
Air Jordan and His Airness have set so many basketball records it would take the rest of the week to cover them all, and he’s still an icon years after retirement, as the income keeps pouring in.
Woods is no longer a billionaire, after his sex scandals and divorce have cost him sponsors, and he hasn’t won a golfing major since 2008. It’s doubtful he’ll ever play again.
Ad even if he does, there’s precious little chance he’ll ever be a force anything like how he was in his prime.
So he’ll retire with 14 majors – four short of Jack Nicklaus – and with 79 wins on the USPGA tour, just three short of Sammy Snead’s record.
But nothing can be taken away from Woods that he passed the billion-dollar mark during his career.
As a matter of interest, Forbes has released their top money-earners for 2017.
Selected sportsmen known to Australians
Cristiano Ronaldo with $93 million, made up of $58 million playing contract, and $35 million endorsements.
LeBron James – $86.2 million, $31.2 million, $55 million.
Lionel Messi – $80 million, $53 million, $27 million.
Roger Federer – $64 million, $6 million, $58 million.
Rory McIlroy – $50 million, $16 million, $34 million.
Lewis Hamilton – $46 million, $38 Million, $8 million.
Phil Mickelson – $43.5 million, $3.5 million, $40 million.
mushi
Guest
For the love of god the hit enter key again! Hit the the enter key again!
PD99
Guest
Not at all a fan of Mayweather the man but there are numerous big name sports people who have had some pretty nasty skeletons revealed and some yet to be revealed.. That doesn't condone Mayweather in any way, it's simply to place some perspective. I have to wonder if a good number of people have ever watched Mayweather fight before. He fought Mc the way he has fought everybody, safety first. He plays D predominantly in the early going, pot shotting with low risk counters here and there looking to step it up as his opponent begins to lose his edge.. Mc fatigued on his own. He was not systematically broken down. Mc was landing some shots, keeping a southpaw jab in Mayweather's face, offered nice movement causing Mayweather to miss quite a few of his own shots. Floyd only came forward after Mc's tank exponentially dried over several rounds - Mc's output nearing ZERO, hands down on unsteady legs, stuttering around the ring. Peak Mayweather was an excellent fighter but let's not afford him something he didn't actually do in this instance - and to put it directly, he didn't carry Mc. Mayweather takes next to no chances. He was never going to fight the circa 2010 version of Manny who was on an absolute tear - too risky. I don't follow UFC but from what I can glean, under that infrastructure Mayweather might've been forced to engage Pac when that fight was truly relevant - guys like Mayweather compromise the sport of boxing by avoiding the defining matches that the public absolutely wants as and when they want them. He didn't fight Pac until May 2015 - unashamedly side stepping his greatest threat until he and we saw Manny accrue more wear/tear, clearly lose a step, beaten by Bradley and KO'd by Marquez. Even after that KO, the fight still didn't happen for another 2 1/2 years. Mc was taller, bigger and stronger but with a limited tank. Mayweather did not plan to take the shots that he did and he did not kick Mc's ass and many suggest. The final stoppage of Mc was hardly indicative that Mayweather could've stopped Mc any sooner than he did. Mc - exhausted, hands down, a sitting duck but not groggy, let alone out on his feet or driven to the deck unconscious. The ZERO on Mayweather's record means nothing because Mayweather has gone to great lengths to overly protect that ZERO. I'm reading the same people, in the one breath, suggest that Mayweather "carried" Mc, that Mc had no place in a boxing ring YET at the same time exclaim Mayweather's newly achieved 50-0 record as further qualification of his legendary status! Illogical. Mayweather should remain 49-0 if the pundits want to suggest that Mc didn't even belong there - whether he was "carried" by Mayweather or not. To break Marciano's record Mayweather (with 49 pro fights behind him preceded by an extensive amateur career) took on a guy with absolutely ZERO experience in either amateur or professional boxing - big WHOOP! Like it or not, even before the bell, there was no scenario in which Mc could "lose". If KO'd early - it would figure. Going for as long as Mc actually did with the successes he did achieve - then that's a win. I grew up with Leonard, Duran, Hagler, Hearns etc. They fought each other when the match ups were actually relevant. Besides being GREAT fighters in their own right, they actually fought each other at their best or near enough to - that's what also contributed to their ERA being GREAT. It's natural for even GREAT fighters to see a loss here and there - it happens when you properly engage, fight without fear or favour and not look to overly protect your your perfect record - a record is basically just abstract numbers if you don't properly examine the quality of who they fought, when they fought them and the complexion of the bout - Mayweather's selections, timing of those selections and methodology in comabt have been careful to a fault to say the least. A HW fighter of the 50s/60s named Lamar Clark holds the record for the longest knock out streak for all divisions (44) but that hardly makes him a better knock out artist than say Louis, Foreman or Shavers when you compare quality of opposition..
mushi
Guest
Well you can rest easy, he’s not really a billionaire. Forbes put his net worth at around 340m at the start of the year, and those published lists typically over estimate public figures net worth. He’s made a billion directly from sport, but he’s also spent a shed load of it. Still not sure circa half a bil helps erode the middle class notion of fairness.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
From what I can see after several times being charged for beating women and getting out of it he finally had to do some jail time for one of them, but literally got just 90 days jail time and was out in 2 months.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
He's been up on charges numerous times for beating multiple different women and as far as I can tell only once actually got any jail time and even in that he managed to work out some deal that saw it reduced to a "misdemeanor" and only did 2 months of jail time. Meanwhile he's continued to earn hundreds of millions of dollars and lives in luxury. So I'd hardly say that 2 months of jail time is enough to suggest that he's paid the price for his crimes and we should be okay with it. I do agree on the other part though, to suggest that Mundine would get anywhere near him is a joke.
BigJ
Roar Guru
Oh how much time a couple of weeks maybe????
Farqueue
Guest
How many people actually picked McGregor to win .....It's hilarious....Who was throwing the big punches ...It was the little black guy...Not the big Irishman.....Floyd just let him hit him for a few rounds....Conner thought ...How easy is this...The other guy doesn't throw any punches.
Mike Julz
Guest
He earned that billion from boxing alone through ppv and gate. Michael Jordan have his billion dollar Jordans shoes empire, and Woods was the most popular sportsman in the world during his heyday, hence the money he got from those lucrative sponsor deals and endorsements. Golf and basketball dont do payperviews, the big difference. Its gonna be a long time before we see someone who makes that crazy kinda money like Floyd. Maybe someone like Anthony Joshua. It seems more likely because he said it himself he wants to be a billionaire so he'll probably the next one to do it.
Pedro
Guest
He did time for beating his wife, and Mundine wouldn't have gotten near mayweather, your comment is a joke
BigJ
Roar Guru
Cant stand that this wife beating punk is now a billionaire instead of being a prisoner. Makes me sick. What a joke. But atleast this country did not let him in, whicj i think was a mistake. It would of been nice to watch Mundine smack him around. Based on Sunday's fight Horn would beat Mayweather. Hopefully he will come out of retirement again to get the @rse kicking he throughly deserves