Mayweather right on the ‘Money’

If you’re tickled green being called “Money,” you’d better live up to your moniker.

Come Sunday morning, Philippine time, Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. does just that—rake in tons of green bucks, thank you, for risking his 44-fight win streak against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The loquacious Mayweather, a five-division world champion whose business plan junks a promoter to share his dough with mere saliva and snake-oil salesmanship, remains uncharacteristically tight-lipped about his guaranteed purse, a whopping $41.5 million (about P1.8 billion).

Boxing writers, including Mitch Abramson of the New York Daily News, report that such a gargantuan take makes Money the first fighter in history ever assured as much.

Lost in all the money talk is the fact that the 12-round match marks the first time since 2007 that Mayweather will fight twice in the same calendar year. The bread aside, also at stake is the assortment of world title belts each fighter wears at 147 and 154 pounds.

The consensus pound-for-pound king at the ripe old age of 36, Money must show that he remains at the peak of his livelihood against the taller Canelo, 13 years younger and thrust into the biggest pay-per-view fight of his life.

But handlers of the Mexican fighter say Alvarez, who gets a reported $12 million (about P528 million), is no flunky.

With a slate of 42-0-1, their man won a share of the WBC’s super welterweight pie with a unanimous decision over Matthew Hatton in March 2011. Five months ago, Alvarez annexed the WBA championship with a similar win over Austin Trout in a match that went the distance.

Money’s bravado, his profitability for the last 17 years and his flair for self-promotion, turns off fans who watch his fights anyway, hoping he’d lose.

But pure boxing followers see him as a delight for his scientific style and entertainment value. Those who follow the money trail see Floyd as a businessman who has remained bankable all these years.

Mayweather was named recently by Sports Illustrated as the highest-earning athlete of 2013. With his historic take Sunday, Money stretches the distance, earnings-wise between him and Manny Pacquiao, his arch foe in the ghost match of all time.

Despite a long boxing career, Pacman was said to be on the brink of bankruptcy with his myriad “dead” business investments and extra generosity to his night-out retinue.

A news item in a major daily says Pacquiao, who plans to sell his house in Los Angeles, is reportedly mired in huge debts, a claim he and his wife Jinkee have denied. Mrs. Pacquiao won the vice governorship of Sarangani province following an expensive campaign in the last mid-term elections.

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In place of a regular sports academy that’s been in the back burner for almost a year, Pangasinan will start with a simple approach —barefoot soccer leagues in the province’s remotest towns.

The pilot project—the model for a prov-ince-wide effort—has the potential to change lives, says Gov. Amado Espino during a meeting with his sports advisers last week.

He said both in-school and out-of-school-kids may be poor and barefoot but when they walk on the field they will have the thrill of a lifetime.

Espino said soccer is a transformative sport that demands youngsters to stay agile with both feet, an essential skill when they switch to the games of their choice once the academy goes full blast.