Floyd Mayweather Jr. will walk away from his fight against Canelo Alvarez with a guaranteed $41.5 million. His purse breaks the previous record of $32 million and is one of several records expected to be broken next weekend, ESPN and Forbes reports.
"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," Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather's advisor, told ESPN.
Mayweather's payday is part of the $73.5 million he's guaranteed to make in 2013 from his six-fight deal with Showtime. The 36-year-old snagged the record with $32 million for May 2012 against Miguel Cotto and again in May 2013 against Robert Guerrero.
Mayweather, undefeated, is boxing's biggest star right now. His much-anticipated fight next week against Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KOs) is expected to challenge the pay-per-view purchase record of 2.44 million
"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."
Any question of Mayweather's 44-0 record and the quality of opponents he chooses should be put to rest next weekend. Alvarez, 23, is over a decade younger than Mayweather and could deal the 36-year-old champion his first professional loss.
"This record purse shows you three things," Golden Boy promoter Richard Schaefer told ESPN. "No. 1, it shows you how big Floyd Mayweather is, which we all knew. But it shows you that he is not just breaking records, he [is] breaking them by far. And third, it just shows you [how] big this fight with Canelo is. It's insane."
The fight takes place on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 9 p.m. ET.
