Oscar De La Hoya has claimed he earned over five times more than Floyd Mayweather when the pair fought in Las Vegas.
This fight took place in 2007 and saw ‘The Golden Boy’, who had long been a star in the sport, take on Mayweather, who was four years his junior but already just as decorated.
At the time, it was the most lucrative fight in history with over $130 million generated in revenue. Mayweather won a close contest by a split decision after 12 rounds to take home the WBC super-welterweight championship.
Speaking on his new Instagram show, De La Hoya gave details about the fight – which was promoter by De La Hoya’s Golden Boy – as well as the financial breakdown of who earned what.
“This fight did 2.4 million homes on pay-per-view. Every celebrity was there. You name it, every person in Las Vegas was there. What people don’t know, I had a torn rotator cuff.
“I was gonna cancel the fight, but there was just too much money involved, too much pride involved. In the eighth round my round my rotator cuff just tore. It was nasty, I couldn’t throw my left jab anymore. I think that’s where he squeezed out the victory.
“Floyd maybe about 12 – 15 million dollars, but I made 80 million. In 2007. [Today] that’s the equivalent to like 200 million.”
De La Hoya – who wanted a rematch but says Mayweather used trickery to get out of the contract clause – fought only twice more including losing to Manny Pacquiao.
Floyd had another 12 bouts, and won them all, including beating Pacquiao, Saul ‘Canelo‘ Alvarez and Miguel Cotto before retiring a decade later, undefeated after 50 bouts.
