Mayweather to earn record $41.5 million vs Alvarez

MANILA, Philippines – Floyd Mayweather Jr. isn’t famously called “Money” for nothing.

The undefeated boxer and arguably the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter is set to make a whopping $41.5 million (around Php1.7 billion) against Saul Alvarez, whom he will face in a highly anticipated showdown on Sept. 14 in Las Vegas.

This is Mayweather’s biggest payday to date, even surpassing the mammoth $32 million guaranteed purse he received in taking on Miguel Cotto in May last year.

Forbes and ESPN.com reported about Mayweather’s salary for the Alvarez fight, which would even go higher once revenue from various other outlets – including gate receipts, US pay-per-view buys and international TV rights income – comes in.

"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 adviser, told Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. "So this comes along with the territory."

Forbes previously reported that Mayweather topped its list of the world’s 100 highest-paid athletes for 2012 with a total income of $85 million for the year. The Las Vegas-based fighter also boasts the record for the most number of pay-per-view buys for his fight against Oscar De La Hoya in 2007, which drew 2.5 million buyers and raked in $132 million in PPV revenue.

In an interview with Forbes.com, Golden Boy Promotions chief Richard Schaefer said Mayweather-Alvarez can even surpass De La Hoya-Mayweather in terms of PPV income.

“I have 2.6 million [PPV buys] in my mind. Records are meant to be broken,” Schaefer said.

Mayweather, 36, has won all his 44 fights (26 by knockout) since turning professional in 1996.