10 Reasons Why You Need To Watch Mayweather Vs Pacquiao

Floyd Mayweather’s amateur career saw him pick up Golden Gloves titles three times in four years before a dog of a decision relegated him to the bronze medal podium in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The 19-year-old shrugged it off and quickly turned professional, boxing under the moniker ‘Pretty Boy’ for a number of years thereafter.

At some point, the nickname was deemed unbecoming and he instead became known as ‘Money’ Mayweather. It won’t win any style points, but it’s certainly accurate.

No athlete has earned more than Mayweather over the last few years, thanks in large part to the insanely lucrative six-fight deal he signed with the Showtime cable channel in 2013 – widely publicised as the richest contract in sports history. His contest with Pacquiao will be the fifth instalment and should the two fighters meet again for fight number six – a strong possibility given the likelihood that Saturday’s fight will go to a points decision – Mayweather will set a record for single-year earnings that could easily stand for a decade or more.

Mayweather’s persistent legal troubles all but rule out the possibility of the type of endorsement deals that ordinarily constitute a significant portion of a well-known athlete’s salary, but that hasn’t stopped him becoming the world’s highest-paid athlete by a considerable margin.