Floyd Mayweather Prints Mint on Canelo Upset

Posted on: May 11, 2022, 09:13h. 

Last updated on: May 11, 2022, 03:11h.

Todd Shriber @etfgodfather Read More
Expertise: Financial, Gaming Business, Mergers and Acquisitions.

Floyd “Money” Mayweather knows a little something about boxing. He’s also a devoted sports bettor. That combination proved beneficial last Saturday.

Floyd Mayweather
Boxing great Floyd Mayweather (left). He won big on an upset of former foe Canelo Alvarez. (Image: MARCA)

The Las Vegas resident, who finished his career with an immaculate 50-0 record, wagered $10,000 on WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol to upset Saul “Canelo” Alvarez at odds of +425 (bet $100 to win $425) last Saturday.

Bivol delivered, vanquishing Alvarez in a unanimous decision, helping Mayweather profit to the tune of $42,500. Mayweather’s wager was placed at the sportsbook at the Silverton Casino Hotel — an off-Strip venue on Blue Diamond Road in Las Vegas.

He took to Instagram with a picture of his bet slip with the caption “Easy pick up.”

For Mayweather, Bet Was Peanuts

Various online sources estimate Mayweather’s net worth at $450 million to $560 million. But the boxer says he’s worth $1.2 billion. Either way, had he lost the wager on Bivol, it wouldn’t have made much difference to his overall financial picture.

In 2020, he said he’d entertain coming out of retirement for a third time, but only at a price tag of $600 million. He hasn’t fought since an August 2017 crossover bout against UFC star Connor McGregor at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

As for Alvarez, the loss to Bivol is the Mexican fighter’s first since September 2013, when he dropped a majority decision to Mayweather at MGM Grand’s Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Both Alvarez and Bivol say they’re up for a rematch, but it’s not clear when that bout will take place. However, there’s a reasonable chance Mayweather will have money on the line when it occurs, given his well-documented history of sports betting.

Some of his biggest wagers include a $1.1 million win on an Oregon college football game, $200,000 on an NFL game and $477,000 in just several days spread over multiple NBA games and boxing matches. There was speculation the fighter lost $13 million on the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII, but that proved to be no more than urban lore.

Mayweather Among Athletes Betting Big

Mayweather is far from the only athlete that has a proclivity for sizable wagers. An upcoming unauthorized biography on golfer Phil Mickelson says the six-time major champion lost $40 million gambling between 2010 and 2014.

Michael Jordan, widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time, is known for betting during his private golf games. During his playing days, he was a regular at Atlantic City casinos when his Chicago Bulls would play the New York Knicks and the then-New Jersey Nets.

NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley — a friend of Mickelson — says he’s lost millions of dollars betting. He was sued by Wynn Resorts for failure to repay $400,000 in markers — a debt he repaid.