Floyd Mayweather’s $750,000 Gamble

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is not a shy man. As well as being one of the most prolific and successful boxers of our era he is also one of the cockiest, constantly boasting of his riches and snapping himself surrounded by bundles of cash and smiling young ladies. It appears that rapper 50 Cent has had enough of his attitude, throwing down the gauntlet with a $750,000 wager aimed at Mayweather.

The task is for Mayweather, who many have speculated is illiterate, was challenged by Fiddy to read “one full page of a Harry Potter book” in exchange for a donation for three quarters of a million dollars to a charity of his choosing. The challenge was picked up on by Power 105’s The breakfast Club who proceeded to play an unedited clip of Mayweather struggling to read a “drop” (similar to an autocue) on the show. Mayweather has since tweeted a shot of two massive cheques accompanied by the text “Read this”.

Although this is perhaps more 50 Cent’s doing than Mayweather’s, this is not the first time the undefeated champion has been involved in a bet involving obscene amounts of money.

In January of this year the Seattle Seahawks enjoyed an emphatic win over the Denver Broncos, stuffing them 43-8 in the biggest game of the year, the Super Bowl. Apparently, Money Mayweather bet an astonishing $10.4 million on the Broncos to win, as reported by the Huffington Post. A picture of Mayweather pointing to piles and piles of cash – assumedly at his local bookies – was doing the rounds on Twitter with no comment from the man himself.

However, after the humiliating loss and plenty of retweets, Mayweather took to popular social networking site Instagram to label the story nonsense. “For the record, I did not bet $10 million on the Broncos. As a matter of fact, I didn’t bet at all” he argued according to The Metro. It is certainly worth noting that his proclamation came AFTER the result was finalised, despite remaining silent during the build-up to the game. This has led many to speculate that Mayweather did indeed foot the 8-figure bill following the Broncos defeat and was merely trying to save face.

It would not be the first time the American has tried to maintain a cool reputation by not letting people see him lose. His absence from the popular boxing video game Fight Night is often speculated upon with the general impression that he has given unrealistic demands to avoid appearing in the franchise. One predominant theory is that this is a manoeuvre to prohibit him from ever being able to lose – even in a video game.

Floyd Mayweather is certainly a controversial character and it is difficult to separate the rumours from the reality. When it comes to the two-time Ring Magazine Fighter of the year, they are equally absurd. Whether you think he’s made $10 million bets or you think it’s all a media façade, we’re sure Pretty Boy loves the publicity.