Floyd Mayweather Recalls The Incredibly Low Pay Cheque For His First Boxing Match

Floyd Mayweather was paid $100,000 for his first professional fight and it shows just how far he's come in his legendary career.

Mayweather adopted the 'Money' moniker prior to fighting Oscar De La Hoya in 2007 after vowing it to be a true reflection of himself.

The 43-year-old has gone on to become one of combat sports' most lucrative athletes, but he came from humble beginnings.

After taking on UFC megastar Conor McGregor in 2017 and earning a reported $78 million, he told Boxing News Online: "I can remember turning professional, I went to (promoters) Top Rank, and I saw the cheque.

"I was like 'damn, I've never seen anything like that in my life'. I come from poverty, from the inner city.

"The cheque was only 100,000 dollars, but to me, it was like 100 million dollars."

Mayweather now has a reported net worth of $560 million and takes part in lucrative exhibitions.

"I'd never seen those types of numbers," he continued "'Hood rich' to me is 30,000 dollars, 40,000 dollars, 60,000 dollars.

"Everything Top Rank said I didn't hear, I just wanted to sign on the dotted line and get the cheque. I thought I was the richest man in the world at 19, receiving 100,000 dollars."

Mayweather will return to the ring on February 20 when he faces off with YouTube star Logan Paul.

There's no word on how many rounds the contest will be just yet but Fanmio founder Solomon Engel has outlined some key details.

"This is a real fight. And whoever wins, wins," he told The Sun.

"Certainly there could be a knockout, yes.

"I think it will be a very competitive fight. And to be clear, we have Floyd who is the best fighter, and Logan who is a new fighter.

"But, Logan does have some size difference, he's many inches taller, many pounds heavier and when you look at size and how that could affect the match, there's really no telling what the outcome could be.

"I do think that it will be competitive because Floyd has an incredible amount of skill and he's going to bring that to the table and Logan has size.

"It's like the David vs Goliath story - and we all know the outcome of that. But we don't know what the outcome will be here."