Sometimes even America’s highest-paid athlete has to stand in line at the bank. Floyd Mayweather Jr., who is expected to earn about $100 million this year, is suffering the rare indignity of waiting for a teller at a nearly empty Bank of America in Midtown Manhattan. Boxing’s flamboyant pound-for-pound king travels by private plane, lives in a sprawling Las Vegas mansion, owns a fleet of exotic luxury cars, and regularly flashes thick wads of cash on the reality series that hypes his fights, so it’s somewhat surreal to see him silently waiting to step up to the glass. Mayweather’s friend and entourage mainstay Mack is holding a pink backpack that I suspect is filled with those money bricks Floyd is so fond of waving around on-camera, the kind you see only in movies featuring bank robberies, drug deals, or ransom payoffs. Two hulking bodyguards eyeball the exits, while several other beefy dudes in THE MONEY TEAM jackets linger outside in front of an idling SUV.
I jokingly ask if he needs to make a cash withdrawal. Mayweather, wearing diamond-rimmed Louis Vuitton shades and a similarly iced-out chain and medallion, crisp blue jeans, and a long-sleeved graphic shirt, says, “Nah, I’m just taking care of some business for my family.” As if on cue, one of his bodyguards steps between us and repeats, louder and more menacingly, “He’s just taking care of some business for his family.” Mayweather retrieves a brick of cash from the backpack and approaches the teller window. He turns to me and shouts, with mock anger, “Why you asking me if I’m getting money out? Mind your own business!”
The thing is, I’m not really supposed to be minding my own business. MAXIM has asked me to tag along with the richest man in sports, as he takes a media-heavy victory lap following his masterful dismantling of Robert Guerrero, once again showcasing his dominance as the most skilled boxer of his era. Mayweather says an injured right hand stopped him from knocking out the outgunned Guerrero, who, like Mayweather’s previous 43 opponents, was doomed by the champ’s bewildering speed, accuracy, and defensive wizardry. Mayweather has since predicted that his September 14 megafight [the fight had not yet occurred at the time of publication] against 23-year-old Mexican sensation Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez, a fellow unbeaten super-welterweight titleholder, will end in a crowd-pleasing KO.
Mayweather-Álvarez – expected to be boxing’s biggest fight since Mayweather defeated Oscar De La Hoya in 2007 in the highest-grossing pay-per-view of all- time – is the second bout in Mayweather’s ridiculously lucrative six-fight deal with Showtime, which pays him a guaranteed $32 million a fight, before the first pay-per-view buys are even tabulated. Mayweather, 36, says the 30-month deal will sound the final bell on his Hall of Fame career, thus far a flawless 44-0 with eight world titles across five weight divisions. As perhaps the most celebrated boxer since Mike Tyson, Mayweather, with his gaudy PPV hauls, has vaulted atop Sports Illustrated’s list of America’s highest-earning athletes, leaving LeBron James languishing in a distant second place.
For the full feature and images grab the October 2013 issue of MAXIM, in stores September 19 – October 16, 2013.
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