Mayweather vs. Pacquiao Purse: Projecting Prize Money Payouts Before Weigh-in

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao are set to break records on Saturday. A lot of them. Pay-per-view buys, ticket prices and many other records are expected to be obliterated as the boxing world gets set for a bout that's been a half-decade in the making.

All of which stand to make Mayweather and Pacquiao extremely rich(er) men. Terms of the contract signed by both parties calls for Mayweather to make 60 percent of the purse, with Pacquiao receiving the other 40.

Most conservative estimates have the fight making around $400 million in revenue, which will net Mayweather $150 million and Pacquiao at least $100 million once the networks get their hands on their agreed-upon share.

"We wouldn't have gotten a fraction of these numbers if we made the fight five years ago," Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who represents Pacquiao, told Dan Rafael of ESPN. "It turned out that we're doing the fight at the right time, I guess, not that we're geniuses for waiting this long."

The wait itself may have helped goose revenue numbers, but it'd be hard to argue it created a better fight. Neither Mayweather nor Pacquiao is at the apex of his talent the way he was in 2009.

Pacquiao has recovered from back-to-back losses to Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez with three straight wins, though only one was against a top-tier opponent (the Bradley rematch). He hasn't knocked an opponent out since Miguel Cotto in 2009 and could nicely be described as having 80 percent of his former punching power.

One could counter that he's become a smarter fighter in that time, but that does not do much good when you're facing one of the best strategic fighters in boxing history.

We don't need much more evidence for Mayweather's decline in speed than his first bout with Marcos Maidana. Partially caused by less-than-intricate preparation and natural aging, Mayweather turned in perhaps the worst fight of his career before righting the ship last September.

That Mayweather was willing to offer Maidana a rematch—something he has almost never done in his prime—speaks to his understandable discomfort with the outcome of the first bout.

"You never know for sure how getting older is going to affect someone and there are a few things I have seen with Floyd," Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach said in February, per Martin Rogers of USA Today. "No fighter is the same in their late 30s than they were in their 20s. I think time maybe helps Manny's style a little more."

Of course, there have also been concerns about Pacquiao's general fitness. He's been dealing with a calf issue throughout his training, causing him to miss running sessions and a few workouts. All is reportedly well when you hear the Pacquiao camp tell it, but it's unlikely they'd offer much in the way of details if he was really hurt.

Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

All of this makes the highest-grossing fight in history one of the most intriguing. After building suspense over a time period long enough to get a medical degree, Mayweather and Pacquiao have created an avalanche of intrigue that promises to make them far richer men.

It also creates the highest level of pressure ever seen in a boxing match. Not even Ali against Frazier or Tyson against Holyfield generated as much buzz, if only because there was not a 24/7 news cycle covering their every move—rest assured: Internet Tyson and Internet Ali would have been fantastic, though somewhat problematic.

The question now is whether two dudes with a combined age of 74 can live up to it. The wait, the hype and the purse have created a situation in which anything short of Fight of the Century will be looked at as a disappointment.

Anything short of something so good we cannot help ourselves but buy a second helping—because a rematch is almost certain, given how much these two stand to make—could lead many to believe they've been snookered by two former greats. 

Even if the fight isn't all we hope it will be, you can rest assured that Mayweather and Pacquiao will be laughing all the way to the bank.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter