Floyd Mayweather to Earn Minimum $32 Million Purse for Andre Berto Fight

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is reportedly set to earn a minimum of $32 million on Saturday night for his fight with Andre Berto. The unheralded challenger is in line to make $4 million.

Dan Rafael of ESPN passed along the baseline figures from the Nevada Athletic Commission. He also notes it's a sharp drop-off from Mayweather's previous fight when he raked in an estimated $250 million in his victory over Manny Pacquiao.

Of course, the numbers for Saturday's bout were never expected to approach his encounter with "Pac-Man," which was billed as "The Fight of the Century." The bout didn't live up to the hype due to a lackluster pace, but "Money" still earned a massive payday and kept his unbeaten record intact.

Choosing Berto for his next fight following that marquee showcase led to a lot of dismay throughout the boxing community. The underdog wasn't viewed as a top contender after losing three of his past six fights, though he has won his last two.

The decision was even more perplexing when you consider this is being sold as Mayweather's final fight. It's a declaration that falls into the "see it to believe it" category, but he hasn't backed off the retirement talk, as Bob Velin of Boxing Junkie noted.

"I'm not going to miss it at all. I want to be on the other side," Mayweather said. "My ultimate goal is, hopefully we can find the next Floyd Mayweather. I want to be able to hang out and go to different hotels, and enjoy the events, and wear the T-shirts and the hats. I want to be able to do things like that."

All told, earning at least $32 million for 36 minutes or less of work is still an outstanding payday by any measure. Even though it's down quite a bit from the battle with Pacquiao, that's not a big deal for an athlete with a projected net worth of $400 million.

When you consider ticket sales are struggling for the fight and the mainstream buzz has been limited, it's actually impressive Mayweather still stands to earn in excess of $30 million. The real question will come after the fight when it's time to decide if he's going to leave those types of paydays on the table and retire.