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Andreas Hell
multiple authors
Although Floyd Mayweather Jr. earned millions of dollars during his professional boxing career and topped the Forbes list as the highest-paid athlete from 2012 to 2014, the boxer said he was shortchanged and has filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Showtime.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday and acquired by ESPN, “seeks to recover millions of dollars in misappropriated funds and losses as a result of a long-running and elaborate scheme of financial fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and conspiracy conducted by Al Haymon, Floyd J. Mayweather’s former manager and advisor, with the knowledge and substantial participation and assistance of Defendants Showtime Networks Inc. and others, including Stephen Espinoza.”
Mayweather, 48, claims he is owed “at least” $340 million and cites a “complex web of hidden accounts, unauthorized transactions and deliberate concealment of financial records” as the reason he believes he has been defrauded of those funds.
Hemon is not named as a defendant in the complaint.
Espinoza did not respond to a request to comment on the lawsuit.
In 2013, Mayweather signed a 30-month, six-fight deal with Showtime which, at the time, was the richest for any individual athlete. He fought Robert Guerrero, Canelo Alvarez, Marcos Maidana (twice), Manny Pacquiao and Andre Berto during that deal and also faced UFC superstar Conor McGregor on Showtime PPV.
Mayweather fought eight times on Showtime PPV, with the Pacquiao bout still standing as the highest-grossing pay-per-view in history with over 4.4 million buys and $410 million in revenue. Mayweather reportedly made approximately $250 million from that fight alone.
In the lawsuit, Mayweather claims Showtime and Espinoza worked together to transfer the boxer’s earnings to accounts controlled by Haymon and failed to provide financial transparency. Mayweather claims he has “suffered huge financial losses” and that at least $340 million of the reported $1.2 billion in his career fight purses is missing.
Mayweather retired from professional boxing in 2017 with a record of 50–0, but has since competed in several exhibitions.
An exhibition fight with Mike Tyson was announced for spring 2026 last September, but no date or location has since been confirmed. Reports emerged on Tuesday that Mayweather will face K-1 kickboxing legend Mike Zambidis in Greece on June 27, but no formal announcement has been made for that bout.
ESPN’s Michael Rothstein contributed to this report.
