In our March issue, BLACK ENTERPRISE takes a look at the most influential African Americans in sports, headlined by Floyd Mayweather, one of the all-time boxing greats. In addition to his influence inside the sport, Mayweather helped redefine the standard for success in boxing inside the ring as well as the business arena.
*Check out more of our stories on Floyd Mayweather and a video of his greatest fights below*
Here are six factoids BE unearthed during our interview with the champ:
- Between takes during his season on Dancing with the Stars, Mayweather and Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe spent much of their time in billionaire mogul Mark Cuban’s trailer learning business strategies from one of the best in the game.
- Mayweather Promotions has generated more than $1 billion in pay-per-view revenues, while the boxer himself has netted in excess of $350 million during his career.
- Mayweather was the one who envisioned that there should be a business model developed so that he would become independent of promoters and gain the lion’s share for his fights. He wanted to be his own boss as well as have a diversified group of businesses.
- Speaking of influence, Mayweather has 11 million Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook followers and a social networking team so that he is in constant contact with his fans.
- Mayweather Promotions has six revenue streams per event: pay-per-view; foreign sales (depending how many other countries buy the fight); closed-circuit revenues (restaurants and bars); theater revenues (ticket sales); merchandising; and sponsorships.
- Mayweather’s last fight, against Canelo Ãlvarez, broke the all-time record for a pay-per-view event with 2.2 million buys and generated $150 million.
Follow Floyd on Twitter and check out this video of Floyd Mayweather’s greatest boxing triumphs: