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March 28, 2024

Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather rakes it in for Las Vegas

Mayweather Jr. Prepares For Rematch With Maidana

Steve Marcus

WBC/WBA welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. looks at his reflection during a media day at the Mayweather Boxing Club Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014. Mayweather will face Marcos Maidana of Argentina in a rematch at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday, Sept. 13.

Mayweather Jr. Preps for Maidana Rematch

WBC/WBA welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrives in a Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse during a media day at the Mayweather Boxing Club Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014. Mayweather will face Marcos Maidana of Argentina in a rematch at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday, Sept. 13. Launch slideshow »

Floyd Mayweather, Jr., sticks to one of two nicknames these days. He refers to himself either as “Money,” a nod to the extravagant lifestyle he tirelessly promotes, or “TBE,” an acronym for “The Best Ever.”

Love or hate him, Mayweather has reason to use both names.

The 37-year-old Las Vegan is the highest-paid athlete in the world. And he’s on one of the most impressive winning streaks in the history of boxing, most recently in May with a majority-decision victory against Marcos Maidana.

On Sept. 13, Mayweather again will face Argentina’s Maidana in the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

By the numbers:

1 — Number of immediate rematches Mayweather had granted prior to Maidana. After a controversial unanimous-decision win against Jose Luis Castillo in April 2002, Mayweather beat Castillo more decisively eight months later.

$32 million — Mayweather’s purse for his first fight against Maidana, who was paid $1.5 million (not including their share of the pay-per-view take).

$150 million — Amount of pay-per-view revenue generated by Mayweather’s fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez last year, the highest-grossing event of all time. It sold 2.2 million pay-per-views. Reports estimate about 900,000 buys for Mayweather vs. Maidana.

78 percent — The chances that Mayweather remains undefeated after the Maidana rematch, according to the current betting line after adjusting for the house’s hold. Mayweather is a minus-750 favorite (meaning you’d risk $7.50 to win $1), with Maidana coming back at plus-500 (meaning you’d risk $1 to win $5).

46 — Number of consecutive professional fights won by Mayweather. “Money” is undefeated in his 19-year career, which gives him more pride than his garages full of luxury automobiles.

54 — Percentage of Mayweather punches that landed against Maidana in the first bout. Maidana landed 26 percent of his 858 strikes and an alarming 36 of 318 jabs thrown.

31 — Knockouts recorded by Maidana in 39 career fights. The heavy-handed Maidana is 35-4 overall, making his stoppage percentage much higher than Mayweather’s 26 knockouts.

221 — Punches landed by Maidana in his first fight against Mayweather, according to CompuBox. It was the most Mayweather had ever been hit in a fight.

$100 million — Estimated economic impact of a Mayweather fight in Las Vegas, according to the fighter’s team when he petitioned to face Miguel Cotto before serving a three-month jail sentence.

$11 million — Local nongaming economic impact from a 2013 Mayweather fight against Robert Guerrero, according to the Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Authority.

$350-$1,655 — Ticket prices for Mayweather vs. Maidana II. If the event sells out the arena’s 16,268 seats as expected, the live gate will come in around $15 million.

$405 — Lowest room rate available at MGM Grand the night of Mayweather vs. Maidana II. Room rates are about three times their regular price.

$4,800 — Cheapest price for a floor seat for Mayweather vs. Maidana II on Stubhub.com. A selection of $1,600 face-value tickets sold out almost immediately when they went on sale this summer.

The rhetorical gloves are off

It’s a good thing they’re about to fight, because Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Marcos Maidana otherwise already would have worn everyone out with their bickering.

Mayweather and Maidana have been arguing about what type of gloves Maidana can wear since the night before their first fight.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission approved a pair of Everlast gloves for Maidana after the weigh-in, but Mayweather and his camp protested, citing inadequate padding around the knuckles. Maidana ultimately caved and wore a different pair after Mayweather threatened to call the fight off, but Maidana complained of the new gloves throwing him off in the majority-decision loss. He has vowed to go back to his preferred gloves in the rematch, though Mayweather has given no indication that he would accept.

“The situation with the gloves is an open issue,” Maidana said during a media tour in Los Angeles. “It hasn’t been closed yet. I’m going to talk to my team. We are going to push for my gloves, and he’s probably going to fight back. But we won’t surrender. We’ll keep pushing.”

Mayweather has concerns beyond glovegate.

“Marcos Maidana is a very, very dirty fighter,” Mayweather said. “In our last fight, he had over 10 low blows, head butts. He’s in the wrong sport if he wants to fight a bare-knuckle brawl; this is boxing. We are both looking to have careers after boxing. I don’t want to risk my health.”

Maidana accused Mayweather of similar transgressions.

“He really likes to use his elbows,” Maidana said. “One of his moves is to put his elbow in the fighter’s throat, and the referee for some reason lets him get away with it. We all know he does whatever he wants because he has the judges in his pocket.”

It’s clearly time these two get in the ring already — no matter what kind of gloves they’re wearing.

“In our first fight, the glove issue affected me a little,” Maidana said. “But now, I know how he operates, and if he wants different gloves, I’ll have different gloves waiting for him. I’ll bring a few options, so I’m not caught off guard again.”

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