Mayweather to earn $41.5m for Alvarez fight

Floyd Mayweather Jr

Floyd Mayweather Jr., already the world’s highest-paid athlete in recent annual surveys, is unlikely to yield his crown with the disclosure that he will earn a guaranteed purse of $41.5m for his September 14 junior middleweight unification fight with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

“Floyd is the biggest star in the sport and the best in the sport, and when you’re the biggest star and you are the best, you get paid the most money,” his adviser Leonard Ellerbe told ESPN.com. “So this comes along with the territory.”

Mayweather’s purse shatters the previous record of $32m, which he set for his May 2012 fight with Miguel Cotto and then tied for his fight this past May against Robert Guerrero. For 2013, Mayweather’s guaranteed purses will total $73.5m.

“It’s a wonderful thing,” Ellerbe said. “Floyd has put boxing on his back and crossed over. He took a niche sport and went out there and marketed a persona (‘Money’ Mayweather) in the mainstream world and became the highest-paid athlete in sports.

“It’s (truly a) blessing to be in that position to make that kind of money. Floyd has worked hard to put himself in this position. He deserves every penny of it. He’s the only athlete that has dominated his sport for the last 15 years, and now he is fighting the best guy he can possibly fight.”

The fight with Alvarez is the second bout of a megadeal that Mayweather signed with Showtime/CBS before the Guerrero fight as he left behind career-long television partner HBO/Time Warner. The 30-month deal is for up to six fights and worth around $200m.