Floyd Mayweather Jr. is an American boxing promoter, trainer and former professional boxer who held world titles in five weight classes. Mayweather was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2020.
Officially, Mayweather is still retired but the level of his talent and his ego saw him take on YouTuber Logan Paul in an exhibition in 2021.
Widely considered to be the best boxer of his era, "Money" Mayweather possesses a rare combination of technical ability, speed and power that has made him peerless since he first won a world title at junior lightweight by beating Genaro Hernandez way back in 1999.
Mayweather has dominated the game over the past two decades and his career earnings are said to have topped $1billion in that time. He was last seen stopping debutant Conor McGregor in Las Vegas in 2017 to eclipse Rocky Marciano's fabled 49-0 pro record.
He remains in good shape and has flirted with the temptation of having rematches with Manny Pacquiao and McGregor.
The secret of Floyd's success and longevity, apart from his phenomenal talent, is the fact Mayweather has enjoyed his pro career on his terms.
While he has teased fans of a possible return from retirement, it now seems Mayweather will focus on becoming a trainer and promoter while also fighting in exhibitions.
"TBE" is set to take on Paul, who lost to KSI in his one and only fight as a professional, in an exhibition on February 22, 2021.
Floyd Mayweather
Mayweather has beaten some stellar names during a pro career that began back in 1996.
His win over Ricky Hatton will always be remembered for 20,000 British fans taking over Las Vegas in 2007 but as a contest, Mayweather put on a masterclass to stop the then-unbeaten Mancunian via TKO in the tenth.
Floyd's first major world title test came against a peak Diego Corrales at his best weight in 2001. Corrales was 33-0 going in and 29 of those wins had come inside the distance.
He was also much bigger than Mayweather, but after figuring "Chico" out in the first half a dozen rounds Floyd began to box rings round his opponent.
The end came in round 10 with Corrales down three times, unable to cope with the speed or accuracy of the WBC junior lightweight boss.
Arguably Mayweather's most notorious fight came against Mexico's Jose Luis Castillo in 2002. He ultimately claimed the WBC and The Ring lightweight belts, but this is the only fight that you could argue with any sort of conviction that he lost.
Castillo controlled much of the action and bullied Mayweather, taking many of the American's best shots. Floyd had his moments in what was a gripping, absorbing contest.
Mayweather was 27-0 and moving up to lightweight for the first time.
The look on his face just before the announcer read out the judges' scorecards tells you everything you need to know about how close this was, though those claiming Castillo was 'robbed' afterwards were probably influenced by the HBO commentary which was pro-Castillo throughout.
Floyd also holds notable wins against the likes of Miguel Cotto, Oscar De La Hoya and a young Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez.
The 2013 win over Alvarez just looks better and better when you consider what 'Canelo' has gone on to achieve in the sport. Mayweather has not been afraid to try new things either.
He cashed in by beating UFC's McGregor in his last official boxing match before coming out of retirement briefly to score a facile (yet lucrative) victory in an exhibition boxing match in Japan against kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa. Reports claim that Floyd made $9million for just 139 seconds of work against Tenshin.
Mayweather was 131-pounds when he turned pro against Roberto Apodaca. He is one of those rare fighters whose skills did not diminish as he rose through the weight divisions.
Floyd has enjoyed an incredible unbeaten run that has seen him win world titles in five weight divisions.
His career has been defined by relentless professionalism - he is rarely out of the gym or seen out of shape - and he has fought from 130-pounds to 154-pounds with many of his best wins coming at the welterweight limit of 147.
The most significant move of Mayweather's career was not a feint or a check hook but exercising a provision in his contract in 2006 that allowed him to become a free agent if he paid then promoter Top Rank $750,000.
His ring earnings exploded after leaving Bob Arum and paved the way for his first super-fight against De La Hoya in 2007.
Floyd never looked back and went on to become the highest-paid athlete of last decade.
He formed Mayweather Promotions in 2007 and has been advised by the mysterious but hugely influential Al Haymon since then. Leonard Ellerbe is the current CEO of Mayweather Promotions.
Many of Floyd's most memorable nights came on HBO, with his verbal post-fight spars with Larry Merchant often as unforgettable as some of the fights themselves.
Yet Floyd shocked the boxing world in 2013 by signing a six-fight deal with rivals Showtime.
Mayweather v Pacquiao was jointly produced as a PPV event by HBO and Showtime in 2015 and remains the highest-grossing PPV of all-time with 4.6 million buys. In the UK Sky Sports have shown most of Floyd's major fights.
According to Forbes in 2017, Mayweather would earn more than $200million for "The Money Fight" against McGregor, pushing his career earnings past $1billion.
He has been a protagonist in the three highest-grossing pay-per-view boxing bouts of all time and his success has been such that his ring moniker evolved from "Pretty Boy" to "Money" as the wins and paydays continued to pile up.
In a modern world typified by bling and social media excess, Mayweather stands out: whether it is showing off his $60million 'Air Mayweather' private jet on Instagram or placing a rumoured $10million bet on the Denver Broncos to win the 2014 Super Bowl.
Mayweather is also the owner of an $18million watch dubbed 'The Billionaire', which is made up of 18k white gold and comes with 260 carats of diamonds.
Mayweather comes from a fighting family. His dad Floyd Mayweather Sr boxed professionally from 1974 to 1990 while for much of his career he has also been trained by his uncle Roger Mayweather.
Floyd Jr has been involved in several high profile relationships, most notably with Shantel Jackson and Josie Harris.
Floyd has four children, daughters Lyanna and Jirah and sons Zion and Koraun. Mayweather and rapper 50 Cent were once close friends but the pair have been trading insults for the best part of half a decade, with 50 Cents once infamously challenging Floyd to read a page of Harry Potter without stopping.
Grammy-nominated rapper Tyga was also hauled out of Floyd's 42nd birthday party in West Hollywood last February, but the pair are said to still be on good terms.
Given what he has achieved as a pro, Mayweather failed to scale the heights in the amateur game, losing a controversial decision to Bulgaria's Serafim Todorov in the semi-finals of the 1996 Olympics and thus having to settle for a bronze in the featherweight division.
"Pretty Boy" Floyd won national Golden Gloves titles in 1993, 1994 and 1996. He went 84-8 but is rarely in the conversation when talk turns to the greatest amateur fighters of all-time.
John Gotti III has revealed that there is a good chance that he will share a ring with Floyd Mayweather Jr again later this year, despite their first fight ending in a complete debacle.
YouTuber-turned-boxer KSI has made a huge claim regarding a potential fight with boxing great Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd Mayweather's exhibition bout with the grandson of a former New York crime boss descended into utter chaos.
Jake Paul has challenged Floyd Mayweather Jr to a “real fight” after he was “ambushed” by “50 dudes” who accompanied ‘Money’ on Wednesday night.
Legendary boxer Floyd Mayweather was taken the distance during his eight-round exhibition fight with Aaron Chalmers at the O2 Arena.
Love Island winner Jack Fincham will mark his professional boxing debut against Anthony Taylor on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather’s latest exhibition.
Dubai will play host to a boxing exhibition between Floyd Mayweather and YouTube star Deji in the first series of the Global Titans Fight Night.
