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Mayweather Routs Berto; Finishes Career With $700 Million In Earnings

This article is more than 8 years old.

Floyd Mayweather won an easy unanimous decision over Andre Berto Saturday night before nearly 14,000 fans at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It was a typical clinical display by Mayweather who landed 57% of his punches versus just 17% for Berto. The win moved Mayweather's career record to 49-0 matching the mark of Rocky Marciano when he retired in 1955. Mayweather insists Berto was his final fight. "My career is over. It's official," said Mayweather after the fight.

Many are skeptical that Mayweather is done with the idea of topping Marciano's mark and an even 50-0 career mark as juicy carrots. MGM Resorts International is also opening a new 20,000 seat arena in Las Vegas next spring and has made no secret that they'd like Mayweather to open the building. There is also the prospect of another juicy payday from potential rematches with Manny Pacquiao, Canelo Alvarez or Miguel Cotto. But if this is the end, it has been a historic run from a financial perspective.

Mayweather earned $700 million during his 19-year career, including $32 million for last night's fight. The only athletes to earn more money during their playing career were golf's Tiger Woods at $1.4 billion and Formula One's Michael Schumacher at nearly $800 million (in retirement, Michael Jordan has also blown by the $1 billion mark).

Mayweather's first paycheck of more than $10 million was for his 2007 split decision over Oscar De La Hoya. He banked $25 million with his cut of the pay-per-view revenue when the fight generated a record 2.5 million PPV buys. The fight made him a star and the PPV king of the sport. It started a run of 12 straight fights earning at least $25 million.

Mayweather's earnings really took off in early 2013 when he signed his blockbuster six-fight, 30-month contract to fight under the Showtime banner in an agreement the press release called "the richest individual athlete deal in all of sports." It turned out to be the richest deal ever in sports. Mayweather earned $440 million over the two-and-a-half years, highlighted by his nearly $250 million payday for his May fight against Pacquiao. Mayweather topped Forbes' annual list of the world's highest-paid athletes three of the past four years, including this year with a staggering $300 million, nearly triple the previous record held by Woods of $115 million.

The Showtime deal raised Mayweather's guarantee to $32 million per bout, plus his cut of PPV revenue. Four of the six fights had minimal upside with PPV buys of one million or less. But Mayweather's fights against Alvarez and Pacquiao rewrote the record books in terms of financial performance. The Alvarez fight generated $200 million in total revenue, while the Pacquiao fight soared to $600 million in revenue, more than any other night in the history of sports.

"There's nothing else for me to do in the sport of boxing. I made great investments, I'm financially stable, well off," said Mayweather last night. "I had a great career. My record speaks for itself."

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