The undefeated champ and the YouTube star will make tens of millions this weekend for what might be just a few minutes of entertainment.
Sunday’s much anticipated Showtime/Fanmio pay-per-view matchup pits retired 44-year old boxing icon Floyd Mayweather Jr. against the 26-year old social media influencer Logan Paul in what plenty of fans believe will be a one-sided clinic before a packed crowd at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
While Mayweather (50-0) and Paul (0-1) very much appear as polar opposites when it comes to the sweet science, both are consummate showmen who know how to market themselves — and make a whole lot of money doing it.
First things first: How much is Mayweather making in the Paul fight? Well, if we take Floyd’s claims at face value, he’s walking away with over $100 million in a “legal bank robbery” and had already made $30 million as of Thursday evening.
The eight-round exhibition bout — whose rules include no judges and no official winner — is expected to hand both fighters seriously impressive payouts thanks not only to their substantial guaranteed salaries, but also their respective individual stakes in the pay-per-view revenue.
While exact figures have not been officially released, both Mayweather and Paul have hinted at just how much they stand to make simply for stepping in the ring together. According to multiple reports leading up to Sunday night’s spectacle, Mayweather is expected to earn a base salary of $10 million, while Paul will reportedly earn a minimum of $250,000.
Both participants, however, stand to make much more when PPV dollars are factored in. At $49.99 a pop, 2 million buys means $99.98 million in buys. 4.6 million buys — the all-time record Mayweather set for his fight with Manny Pacquiao — would be worth $229.95 million.
And the biggest piece of that pie would end up on Floyd’s plate.
Logan Paul’s Payout Could Pack a Punch
So, how much will Logan Paul get for fighting Mayweather? The YouTuber will reportedly earn 10% of pay-per-view shares, said in an interview in early May with TMZ that he stands to make as much as $20 million total from the fight.
This latest purse will far exceed the $900,000 Paul reportedly made in his first professional fight, a loss against fellow Youtuber KSI in 2019.
If those payout projections for the upcoming fight ring true, Paul stands to nearly double his estimated net worth of $19 million in what may very well be only a few minutes of work.
And regardless of the outcome of Sunday’s fight —Paul’s willingness to go toe-to-toe with one of the all-time boxing greats will undoubtedly propel his professional career into even more paydays down the road.
Mayweather Gets Millions More — but Not McGregor Numbers
Mayweather, meanwhile, is expected to bring in a 50% share of of pay-per-view sales, which could net him orders of magnitude more than his opponent.
According to an interview with the Disruptive Entrepreneur podcast, “Money” believes he can make more fighting someone like Paul than stepping in the ring again with a seasoned boxing pro.
“I can fight a fighter right now and I can guarantee myself $35 million,” Mayweather said. “I can eventually probably make $50 million, for just a regular fight. Or me and Logan Paul can go out, entertain, have fun and make nine figures, $100 million or more.”
Mayweather’s purse against Paul, however, will likely end up being far less than what the boxing legend brought in when he took on MMA star Conor McGregor in 2017.
In that fight, Mayweather made a whopping $275 million.
All told, however, this latest purse will only add to an already impressive lifetime earnings haul widely estimated to be in excess of $1 billion.
Rabid Fanbases Could Drive Record Pay-Per-Views
While pay-per-view projections are notoriously unreliable, the TV money is still king.
Solomon Engle, the CEO of the fight’s PPV co-provider Fanmio, believes it will be one for the record books.
“Floyd has his audience. We know he has a sizable audience, obviously he’s sold more pay-per-views than any other fighter. Logan has his audience which is an entirely different one… You put it together and it’s just a larger audience in aggregate,” Engel said in an interview with FanSided.
For what it’s worth, Engel said he has heard from some in the industry that the fight has already sold more pre-fight pay-per-views than any other fight in history.
That’s a pretty serious claim. But it’s not impossible.
So, will Paul’s legions of social media followers join together with Mayweather’s massive boxing fanbase to set a new record on Sunday?
While the jury may still be out on just how much both sets of fans will care about the upcoming fight on its merits, one thing is certain — a one-two punch of a boxing legend like Mayweather and a big, brash personality like Paul means major dollar signs for everyone involved.
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