Eeven as it is being predicted that Floyd Mayweather will add another $180million to his bulging bank accounts, there are genuine concerns here that the richest athlete in the world will end up without a cent to his name.
Mayweather’s father Floyd Snr, who is also his trainer, is among those alert to the danger that the man who calls himself Money could be heading back to Skid Row after he retires from the ring.
This may seem preposterous to those of us who inhabit the real world but Mayweather’s spending is as legendary as the earning power which is about to reach a phenomenal high as he takes on Manny Pacquiao in the Fight of the Century.
His purse from the richest fight of all time is expected to boost his net wealth — currently estimated at $420m — to $600m.
How can anyone blow that much cash?
Mayweather Snr explains in blunt terms: ‘Look at all the millionaires who go broke. When you have this much money sometimes you can’t control it.
‘Another $100m, $200m on top of what you already have looks like a tall thing. But you can do all kind of things with money.
‘If Floyd does the right thing with his he will be all right for the rest of his life. But you can get through any amount in two years spending on possessions, trips, cars, women. Most fighters go down that hole. And when they do, the friends go the same way as the money.
‘It’s the way of life, man.’
Mayweather Jnr’s way of life at the moment is to spend, spend, spend. Without a flicker of guilt. With unashamed ostentation.
A hundred cars from one Las Vegas dealership in 18 years, including 16 Rolls-Royces as well as three Bugattis costing between $1m and $3m apiece. A luxury watch collection said to be worth half a million bucks. Shopping for jewellery, reportedly spending over $6m on one day in New York.
So many designer sports shoes that he wears each pair only once, often leaving them in hotel suites as gifts to the maids.
Mayweather’s generosity extends to giving some of the luxury vehicles, Ferraris for example, to pals or his steady flow of girlfriends. One young lady arrived at his gym the other day at the wheel of a white Rolls Bentley. He recently gave his son a gold-plated Bentley golf buggy as a birthday present.
Last week’s addition to the fleet parked at what he calls ‘my eight-figure mansion’ is a bespoke Mercedes thought to cost $450,000.
Although he makes much of his extravagance public on social media, some of the spending leaks out. The latest snippet suggests he has not one private plane — the $42m jet with which he poses for pictures — but two.
The second, apparently, is to fly some of his family separately and carry the rest of his entourage.
Still, how can anybody blow $600m?
Well, Mike Tyson did, in two tranches of $300m accumulated first before and then after his three years in jail. Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s now-seven-time trainer of the year, recalls: ‘I was around Mike the first time and watched it happen. So, yes, the way Floyd’s going I can definitely see him winding up on Skid Row.’
Tyson was indeed the big spender of his era. I was with him once in Vegas when he bought a six-pack of Rolls Bentleys. He gave the keys to five of them to so-called friends who, as Floyd Snr could have warned him, melted away once the last of the money had gone.
Yet not even Tyson spent as lavishly as Floyd Jnr does now.
Then there is the gambling. He is fond of tweeting snapshots of the million-dollar cheques he receives when his hefty bets on his favourite sport, basketball, are winners.
Less publicised are his visits to Vegas where he plays blackjack at $100,000 a hand.
Then there are the legal bills for his defences against charges of battering women, which are being raked over by rival cable TV networks to Showtime and HBO, who are sharing the pay-per-view transmission of the Money Man versus the PacMan.
Mayweather does have form in this unpleasant regard, having served brief prison time for abusing the mother of two of his children, but he protests his innocence of the other cases.
Nevertheless, this reputation has proved a barrier to all sponsorship and endorsements, in contrast to Pacquiao, who enjoys $5m corporate contracts.
Mayweather, however, takes pride in all his earnings coming from the fiercely dedicated toil in the gym. But he is 38 now and insists the fight after this will be his last.
So what happens when the boxing and the unprecedented pay-nights end?
Mayweather says not to worry. ‘It’s all under control. If I wanted, I could retire today. I’ve taken care of the future for all my children. My team brought in another $11m in 48 hours this week. I’m guaranteed a pay cheque of $700,000 a month for life once I quit the ring.’
However, others remain anxious. Even Bob Arum, whom he saw as an enemy when he left him to promote himself.
If Floyd Mayweather’s remarkable journey ends back in Grand Rapids, Michigan, back on the wrong side of the tracks, in the poverty of his boyhood, only the malicious will be gloating.
Arum says: ‘I am honestly concerned about what will become of him.’
He is not alone.– Daily Mail