Floyd Mayweather Jr. stands to make well over $100 million in his fight with Manny Pacquiao.

To put that in perspective, Mayweather was the highest-paid athlete in the world in 2014 at $105 million. He's going to surpass that in a single night.

The reason Mayweather is far and away the highest-paid athlete on earth goes back to a decision he made in 2006.

For the first 10 years of his professional career Mayweather was a part of Bob Arum's stable of fighters at Top Rank promotion company. During that time he became the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

But in April of 2006 Mayweather turned down the highest purse of his career, $8 million to fight Antonio Margarito, and exercised a provision in his contract that let him become a free agent if he paid Top Rank $750,000.

Arum told ESPN's Dan Rafael at the time that before he left Mayweather had asked, among other things, for a $20 million guaranteed purse to fight Oscar De La Hoya.

"He wants $20 million for the De La Hoya fight? It's not there. Sometimes, my man, you gotta know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. We'll talk about things down the road," Arum said.

A year later, Mayweather made $25 million in a fight against De La Hoya that still holds the record for total pay per view buys.

After buying himself out of his Top Rank contract, Mayweather took unprecedented control over his career. Rather than getting paid a large guaranteed fee up front by a promotor like Top Rank — as is the norm across the sport — Mayweather stages his fights himself and takes a cut of the total revenue on the back end. 

Greg Bishop described it like this for the New York Times in 2011:

"He earns a percentage of every ticket purchased, every pretzel consumed, every poster sold. He will earn from countries that paid for broadcasting rights and the theaters where the fight is shown.

"Mayweather, regarded as one of the best boxers in history, fights under a highly unusual financial structure, exchanging upfront risk for back-end profit while retaining total control."

After distributors and networks get their cut, Mayweather gets a bigger piece of the remaining revenue than anyone else in the sport. 

Mayweather fought De La Hoya in 2007 and made $25 million. His earnings only grew from there, culminating in an $80 million payday for 2013's fight against Canelo Alvarez, which set the record for PPV revenue at $150 million. In that fight he made $41.5 million pursue, and then almost doubled that amount once PPV receipts came in.

Every move is designed to give him a larger piece of the pie. He left HBO and signed a more lucrative deal with Showtime in 2013. He got a Nevada promoter's license for his Mayweather Promotions company so he could stop co-promoting fights with Golden Boy in 2014. 

Since Mayweather went pro in 1996 he has made over $400 million in career earnings, and the vast majority of it has come after he spent $750,000 to leave Top Rank in 2006.

Mayweather doesn't have a single endorsement, but he has been able to capitalize on his value to his sport more than any other athlete alive.

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NOW WATCH: Here's how Floyd Mayweather spends his millions

Most people think Floyd Mayweather Jr. is going to beat Manny Pacquiao on May 2. 

Mayweather is the betting favorite, and Pacquiao is widely considered past his prime after losing two of his last five fights and getting brutally knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez.

On Grantland's "The Ropes" podcast, boxer and Showtime analyst Paulie Malignaggi gave a great, detailed explanation for how he sees the fight playing out.

Malignaggi makes a convincing case for Mayweather. He thinks Mayweather is going to sap Pacquiao of his confidence early, slowly come into the fight, and then eventually put Pacquiao on his back foot later in the fight — something Pacquiao has little experience with.

Malignaggi says the fight is going to start slow, with Floyd dictating the pace:

"I think early on Floyd will be Floyd and it will be a pretty tedious affair. I don't expect the fight to start fast, although I do expect Manny to try to start fast. I don't think you can come out with surprises and see Manny starting slow because the slower the pace the worse it is for Manny. So I don't think there are any surprises there.

"If Manny's going to have a shot at winning this he's better off starting fast. I think it's to his own detriment if he doesn't start fast. So I think you see an attempt at starting fast by Manny."

Early in the fight Floyd will focus on making Pacquiao miss in order to gain a psychological edge:

"I see Floyd just taking his time and just trying to get Pacquiao missing and take away the confidence of Pacquiao in his own offense. You do that by not only making him miss but at times you make him miss and [throw] those little pot-shot counters where you're not stepping in totally with them because to step in fully with all your counters right off the bat you may be taking a risk with getting hit with a follow-up shot. So I think you'll more see Floyd stepping in with pot-shot counters or not stepping in at all with counters and at times having Pacquiao miss altogether."

Eventually Pacquiao will realize he can't hurt Mayweather:

"So little by little the trick is — if Floyd is having his way — he'll be able to frustrate Pacquiao into realizing that, 'The offense that I have that works so well is not working here.' And then as the rounds go on and he starts to get the timing better off of Pacquiao's misses and make him pay, he'll start to be comfortable stepping in harder on the counters, and he'll start to be comfortable leading more than he has been leading because I don't think early on he'll be leading a lot."

By Round 4 Mayweather will start taking the fight to Pacquiao:

"I think he'll start to take initiative and lead more as the fight wears on, probably about after Round 4 or so. And at that point once Pacquiao has got down and once Floyd has got more belief in his own offense besides the countering, it'll be Floyd leading more and more."

If that happens, the fight will be over because Pacquiao won't be able to fight off his back foot:

"And I don't know if Manny Pacquiao can fight on the back foot. We've yet to see him fight on the back foot. You would think that against Juan Manuel Marquez in all those close fights he would have tried to adjust and fight off the back foot but he never did. I don't know that he even knows how to fight on the back foot. So if you back up Manny Pacquiao does he even know how to defend himself? I think that's a key point in the fight because I do see Floyd eventually walking him down. If Pacquiao doesn't know how to defend himself at that point, the fight becomes one-sided."

Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, would (obviously) take exception with the assumption that Pacquiao won't be able to touch Mayweather early in the fight. Roach thinks that Pacquiao has an inherent advantage because he's a southpaw, which will making Mayweather's signature shoulder roll — a dominant defensive tactic — less effective.

Mayweather is around a -200 betting favorite at most sportsbooks, meaning you'll have to bet $100 to win $50. Pacquiao's odds are around +175, meaning a $100 bet will win $175.

Listen to the entire "Ropes" interview with Malignaggi here >

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As we near the highly-anticipated boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, all signs suggests the fight will break the all-time pay-per-view sales record despite its $90-100 price tag.

According to Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports, one sportbook has set the over/under for PPV buys at 3.8 million, with the over at -167 odds, meaning you would have to bet $167 to win just $100 if you bet the over.  Only two fights in boxing history have even topped 2.0 million PPV buys, with Mayweather's 2007 match against Oscar De La Hoya setting the record with 2.48 million.

The editor of SportsbookReview.com told Forbes.com that he believes the final number will be closer to 3.0 million due to illegal streaming of the fight. However, even that would break the current record.

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Las Vegas (AFP) - Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather amped up the anticipation for their blockbuster bout, feting fans on Tuesday before they get down to the final, serious preparations for Saturday's welterweight showdown.

Boxing's latest "Fight of the Century" -- between two fighters reckoned the best pound-for-pound of their generation -- has been more than five years in the making.

But as fight-week swung into high gear, tensions between the camps were evident as Filipino icon Pacquiao and unbeaten American Mayweather made public bows at separate venues.

"So many different sponsors and networks came together to make this big event happen -- I think we both should have been here," Mayweather said after Pacquiao opted out of the "grand arrival" at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Pacquiao instead greeted fans down the street at Mandalay Bay. The several hundred who attended his rally were far outnumbered by the thousands who turned out for Mayweather at the venue that will host the fight.

Most bookmakers have made 38-year-old Mayweather, 47-0 with 26 knockouts, the favorite for a fight that's certain to be the most lucrative in boxing history.

But 36-year-old Pacquiao told reporters he is revelling in his underdog status as he spoke excitedly about the prospect of finally stepping into the ring to face Mayweather.

"I have something to prove. I like being the underdog because my killer instinct and my focus is there," added Pacquiao, describing the bout as "one of the most important fights in my boxing legacy."

Pacquiao's arrival on a stage in a Mandalay Bay convention center room was preceded by Filipino singers and folk dancers and a bravura performance from an 11-year-old singing prodigy.

A music video featuring Pacquiao performing his latest composition -- interweaved with scenes from his ring career and his efforts in such causes as typhoon relief -- was followed by a rousing rendition of the Philippine national anthem before Pacquiao appeared in beige jeans and an "MP" T-shirt.

Mayweather's entrance at the MGM, in contrast, featured all the swagger that his fans love and critics denounce.

A hip-hop master of ceremonies and a glitzy university marching band kept the crowd entertained until Mayweather's arrival at the MGM in a glistening black van emblazoned with a white "M" logo.

The crowd cheered as the video of the vehicle gliding to the curb played on a giant screen and Mayweather emerged.

Soon he was walking a short red carpet to the stage, pausing for a handful of hugs and selfies.

The brief appearance was done with all the smoothness expected from the highest paid sportsman in the world.

But in remarks to a select group of media after, Mayweather sounded as if he's going into Saturday's fight with a chip on his shoulder.

"I think the bar is always set higher for Floyd Mayweather," he said. "It's always set a little bit different than everybody else. If I didn't show up to the grand arrival it would be front page."

Record-breaking numbers 

But Mayweather said he didn't really get caught up in the theatrics of the event -- or in the fantastic figures being thrown around as to what the fight will make in gate receipts, pay-per-view, sponsorship and merchandising.

"I've broken records before," he said. "Are we going to do record-breaking numbers again? I believe so."

That won't change his mindset entering the bout.

"It's just work," said Mayweather, and he's confident he'll get the job done.

After a solid training camp, he doesn't believe Pacquiao, the winner of world titles in an unprecedented eight weight divisions who owns a record of 57-5 with two drawn, will be the first to put a blemish on his record.

"I truly believe I'm the smarter fighter," Mayweather said reiterating his oft-expressed belief that Pacquiao's "reckless" style could land him in trouble.

Certainly he doesn't believe that a hard-charging start by Pacquiao could be a path to victory for the underdog.

"I think everybody's game plan is to come forward and throw a lot of punches," he said of his opponents. "It hasn't worked for 19 years -- 47 fights it hasn't worked."

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In a rare reference to his history of domestic violence, Floyd Mayweather Jr. spoke at a news conference Tuesday about his frustration with not being able to see three of his four children.

In 2011, Mayweather was sentenced to 90 days in jail after pleading guilty to battery domestic violence. He was accused of attacking Josie Harris, his ex-girlfriend and mother of three of his children, at her home in Las Vegas. Harris has since moved to California with the three children.

During a news conference leading up to Saturday's Manny Pacquiao fight that was recorded by FightHype.com, Mayweather was asked about what he taught his children about the value of money. He responded by saying that he was bothered that he could not see the three children he had with Harris and implied that it was Harris' fault.

"I love my children," he said. "It's been bothering me a lot that three of them I haven't been able to see. That's been bothering me a lot because, you know how women are sometimes."

Here's the video. His quote comes at the one-minute mark:

In November, Harris told USA Today's Martin Rogers that she did not see Mayweather but the kids did. From Rogers:

Josie Harris, Mayweather's former long-term partner and mother to three of his four children, doesn't see Mayweather much these days. Occasionally he will collect their children in person, but more often than not they are transported using the jet service he uses for much of his travel outside of Las Vegas.

It's an arrangement she is happy with.

"(It means) I don't have to take a Xanax before he comes, otherwise I will be sweating bullets," Harris told USA TODAY Sports in an interview at her home 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles. "For some reason I still get anxiety when I know that he is on his way. I have no idea why, but I get really overwhelmed when I know that I have to be around him."

One of Mayweather's sons, Koraun, who was 10 years old at the time of the incident, gave a statement to the police saying he saw his father hit and kick his mother. The boy later ran out of the house to alert a family friend.

"Then I heard yelling and I came out and my dad was hitting my mom. It happened at 4 a.m. in the morning," he told the police.

In an interview with USA Today four years later, Koraun said his father was "a coward."

Despite the guilty plea in the Harris case — as well as a 2001 case in which he pleaded guilty to battery domestic violence and numerous other accusations— Mayweather has consistently claimed innocence in public.

"Everything has been allegations; nothing has been proven,"Mayweather told CNN's Rachel Nichols last year. When Nichols asked about the alleged abuse against Harris, Mayweather said, "Once again, no pictures, just hearsay and allegations."

He told Yahoo's Katie Couric about the incident: "Did I kick, stomp, and beat someone? No, that didn’t happen. I look in your face and say, 'No, that didn’t happen.' Did I restrain a woman that was on drugs? Yes, I did. So if they say that's domestic violence, then, you know what? I’m guilty. I'm guilty of restraining someone."

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Ahead of this Saturday's big fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, there's a new movie chronicling the latter's origin story.

"Kid Kalufu" tells the story of Manny Pacquiao's early life as a poor kid living in the Philippines that would eventually become one of the greatest boxers of his generation.

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After years of hype and buildup, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather will finally meet in the ring on Saturday evening. It's a big night for boxing.

It's also a big night for HBO and Showtime, who are jointly producing the pay-per-view television event. At $89.95 — and 10 dollars more for HD — the fight is the most expensive pay-per-view of all time, smashing the previous high of $74.95. Previous Mayweather and Pacquiao fights have generally been closer to $70.

The two boxers are expected to divide around $300m. Lots of money will be made on Saturday night by the promoters, the ticket brokers, the Vegas hotels, the PPV operators, the cable companies etc. But another group will be making money on Saturday night, too – the pay-per-view cops.

[Related: Mayweather-Pacquiao: why I cannot bring myself to watch boxing's fight of the century | Melissa Jacobs]

On the night of the big fight, the PPV cops – who are not real police, though one company says many former law-enforcement officers are in their ranks – will attempt to find bars showing the fight without having paid licensing fees. If they help promoters nail establishments that have not paid, the companies say they can make hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

A bar cannot just order the $100 pay-per-view and show it on its televisions; it needs a licence to show the fight in public. G&G Boxing — the company selling the rights to show Saturday's fight — reports the cost of the event "is determined by the occupancy of your establishment among other factors". ESPN's Darren Rovell reported the cost for this bout is $25 multiplied by the fire code occupancy of the location.

It varies. Bar owners and managers report numbers around that. A bar manager in Wilmington, Delaware, says his place was quoted $5,000 for a 257-seat occupancy (about $20 a head). Cardrooms in California have been quoted as high as $50 a head. A Buffalo Wild Wings in Henderson, Nevada, was quoted $4,500 to show the fight.

You have to sell a lot of food and beer to cover such a high cost. It's no wonder many bars are opting out of showing the fight, despite the amount of interest. KTNV-TV of Las Vegas talked to quite a few sports bars that have declined to show the fight; it simply wasn't worth it to them.

Bars, of course, have a murkier option: they can show the fight illegally. The owner of a bar in south-eastern Pennsylvania, who asked for "anonymity and vagueness of his location" so he could talk, says he is closing down the bar on Saturday night rather than spend the money to order the fight. Obviously that's not his real plan: "We're going to have our regulars in and we're all going to watch the fight." The owner had not even bothered to check with G&G to see what it would cost, as "he knew he couldn't afford it". He says he wants to give his regular customers what they want, but he says he cannot do it above-board. He says he has done this before – but only for WWE wrestling.

But our bar owner could be in trouble if he has more than just his regulars in. G&G says it attempts to combat piracy – threatening those showing the fight without paying the licensing fee – with "civil liability for actual and statutory damages in excess of $100,000, injunctive relief, legal costs and attorneys' fees, as well as other severe criminal and civil penalties as provided for by federal copyright and state and federal telecommunications laws".

Companies take this seriously. G&G even has a bilingual line where interested parties can report PPV piracy. Sometimes bar owners make it easy by advertising the fight on social media or fliers. But others go into deep cover to show big fights. That's where the PPV cops come in.

The company Audit Masters did not respond to requests for comment. But it did advertise on Craigslist in February for auditors for the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. On Monday, Edlund Data Services — a company that specialises in recruiting mystery shoppers — posted an advert looking for PPV cops for Saturday's event.

People contracted by Audit Masters get a list of bars legally showing a PPV. During the four-hour telecast, PPV cops travel to locations showing the fight but not on their list.

"We do not tell you where to go," Audit Masters says on its website. "That is up to you, we leave that up to your local expertise as to where you feel the most productive areas for piracy would be. We do ask that you average at least five stops per hour during the hours of the telecast."

The company – Audit Masters or another firm – then has its "police" give affidavits about what they saw. These can get incredibly detailed, as one lawsuit stemming from a 2009 Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) pay-per-view broadcast of a fight between Georges St-Pierre and BJ Penn showed. This suit was filed by Joe Hand Promotions, a Pennsylvania–based promoter. "Network showed replays of Pierre's left jabs and spoke of how effective they were," Jerauld Peacock said in the affidavit, after previously reporting he had entered a Virginia bar and ordered a drink. "Upon the decision, Pierre did his trademark back flip, over rotating, doing a backwards roll and springing to his feet."

Audit Masters' testimonial page quotes a J Mallow from Miami Dade Law Enforcement: "The first time I went out, I caught seven pirates. When Dee calls with a gig I am always ready to go, I know two things are going to happen: 1. I am going to bust some bars engaged in illegal activity; 2. I am going to make some decent money for the night … I also get personal satisfaction from the fact that some of these bars will be closing and when a bar that was a detriment to the community is closed, the community as a whole is better off, to me, as a law-enforcement officer, it is a win, win situation."

PPV cops are paid by the number of illegal locations they are able to find. The ad posted by Edlund offers $250 per location found.

Part of this is bluster: companies want to scare bars into paying fees in advance. But if a bar is caught showing a fight without paying, there can be significant consequences. A bar in Lake Elsinore, California, shut down after paying a $23,000 fine for illegally showing a Mayweather fight. J&J Sports Promotions, which licenses fights and has partnered with G&G, has also filed more than 1,600 lawsuits against businesses illegally showing PPV events since 2010. In 2009 it won a $112,800 default judgment against a bar in Arkansas. It settled for $50,000 with a bar that showed the Mayweather-Victor Ortiz fight in 2011. "I'm not in business to sue people," the J&J president Joseph Gagliardi told the Los Angeles Times. "But I've got to do it for one reason: to protect the clientele who are doing it right."

It is not limited to boxing. The UFC has sued several bars that showed PPV events without paying. Four years ago the UFC sued one Nebraska bar for $260,000. Another lawsuit in 2010 asked for $640,000. Joe Hand, which has distributed the UFC since 2001, lists several victories against bars on its website. It has won between $6,325 and $80,000 after suing bars that illegally showed UFC cards. In the 2009 St Pierre-Penn fight, where the backflip was described in a court filing, Joe Hand settled for $2,400.

Audit Masters says Saturday's fight will be "the most pirated event ever … and without question this will be the absolute most worthwhile, beneficial lucrative, productive, successful, and profitable event ever worked by our auditors. It will be without a doubt the biggest moneymaker ever". For bars caught showing the fight without paying, it will be anything but.

This article originally appeared on guardian.co.uk.

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NOW WATCH: Here's how Floyd Mayweather spends his millions

Exactly how much money Floyd Mayweather Jr. will make on the Manny Pacquiao fight is still unclear.

Because of Mayweather's unique financing structure— where he promotes his fights himself and takes a cut of the total revenue rather than getting paid a negotiated guarantee up front — he stands to make well over $100 million. But how much more?

At a press conference on Tuesday, Mayweather said the fight would make him $200 million.

Many boxing fans think this fight is happening five years too late, with both fighters past their primes. Mayweather responded to a question about the fight's timing by saying he's going to make much, much more money now than he would have made in a proposed Mayweather-Pacquiao fight in 2010.

"Why won't you guys just say that Floyd was the smart one?"he said. "Five years ago this was a $50 million fight for me. And this was a $20 million fight for him."

If Floyd is to be believed, holding off for five years made him $150 million.

Is this really possible?

In a word, maybe.

According to the proposed contract for the 2010 fight obtained by Yahoo's Kevin Iole, the pay-per-view would have been priced at $60. If it generated three million PPV buys (well above the 2007 record of 2.48), that'd be $180 million in PPV revenue.

The May 2 fight is priced at $100. If it generates three million buys (a conservative estimate), it works out to $300 million in revenue. Around ~60% of that (~$150 million) goes to the fighters, the New York Times reports, with Mayweather taking a 60-40 split of the profits.

You also have to factor in two business decisions that Mayweather made between 2010 and 2015.

In 2013, he left HBO for a more lucrative deal with Showtime.

In 2014, his company Mayweather Promotions received a promoters license in Nevada, giving him an even more control of revenue. Between 2007 and 2014, all of Mayweather's fights were co-promoted with Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions. On the 2010 contract obtained by Iole, Golden Boy is listed as the promotion company that controls the revenue on Mayweather's behalf.

Now Mayweather Promotions is the lead promoter of the superfight, with greater control over revenue than they would have had in 2010.

While Mayweather and Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum have implied that the five-year wait for Mayweather-Pacquiao was ultimately smart because it generated more interest, it's not the public interest level that makes the 2015 fight so much more lucrative for Mayweather than the 2010 fight. The pie might be slightly bigger now than it was in 2015, but what really matters is Mayweather gets a bigger piece of it.

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The highly-anticipated boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquaio on Saturday will likely go down as the biggest in history, on a number of counts.

All signs suggest the fight — which has been five years in the making — will break the all-time pay-per-view sales record— despite it costing between $90 to $100 to watch the bout live on TV. 

For venues such as bars and restaurants, there will be at least a $20 cover charge ($20 multiplied by the fire capacity of the venue) to show the fight. Buffalo Wild Wings said that would equal around $5,100 per restaurant, which is too expensive for most of its franchises. But many other locations and homes will be showing the fight, generating around $300 million in US, Canada, and Puerto Rico alone, according to sports market research firm Repucom. 

In addition, a further $13 million is expected to be made from closed-circuit international broadcasts, with networks predicting a further $35 million will be made in box office sales, according to Repucom.

The sponsorship numbers are equally meteoric

Pacquiao's promoter and president of Top Rank Todd duBoef told ESPN.com that their contracts with five title sponsors will add $13.2 million to the money generated by the fight, shattering previous records.

Tectate beer won the title sponsor rights to the fight, with an estimated $5.6 million bid, according to Repucom. The Tectate logo will be featured on the center of the ring mat, and on signage in and around the venue.

Aside from the title sponsorship, Repucom says the limited space available on fighter's apparel is also being snapped up by advertisers. Manny Pacquaio's shorts alone will carry sponsorships worth approximately $2.3 million, generated by six brands.

The minimum overall sponsorship with Pacquaio (which takes in more than just his shorts) was set at $1 million, according to ESPN.

Only the Super Bowl really compares in the one-off sporting events space in terms of sponsorship — Pepsi paid "upward of" $7 million a year for its half-time show rights, according to a 2012 NBC report. However, Pepsi has a wider 10-year sponsorship agreement with the NFL, worth an estimated $90 million per season, so it's likely the half-time show is packaged up within those rights.

During the ad breaks, movie studios have snapped up expensive ad slots. Trailers being aired will include "Terminator Genisys,""Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation," and "SouthPaw,"ESPN reports.

Repucom provided this infographic which demonstrates just how big a money maker the super-hyped Mayweather-Pacquiao fight is set to be.

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Tickets for the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight on May 2 are extremely hard to come by.

According to Kimberly Pierceall of Associated Press, only 500 tickets were made public, and they sold out in seconds. Ringside seats on StubHub are listed for over $100,000, with one ticket priced at $351,005. Seats in the upper levels are being sold for more than $3,000, with some climbing as high as $8,000.

Despite the price, Pacquiao made sure that his massive entourage got into the building, spending $3-4 million for 900 tickets, Pierceall reports.

Pacquiao's entourage consists of, as SI's Greg Bishop describes it, "friends and relatives and friends of relatives and relatives of friends." Bishop, who took a dive into the entourage in preparation for Saturday's fight, says the entourage also includes nine pastors, a security team, and two people who organize the guest list that can climb into the hundreds.

Bishop reports that they often travel in a caravan, which includes a megabus with Pacquiao's face on it. Rob Peters, the head of Pacquiao's security, told Bishop that the caravan has grown from 25 to 30 cars to possibly as many as 100.

Here's the bus, which made its way to Las Vegas this week:

Pacquiao's entourage for this fight seems even bigger than his normal standards. In 2014, in preparation for his fight with Chris Algieri, ESPN's Dan Rafael reported that Pacquiao flew two planes with about 380 people from the Philippines to Macau. 

Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, wasn't pleased at the time, telling Rafael, "I'm not happy about that, not at all. Half the people on the planes, Manny doesn't even know their names."

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Floyd Mayweather Jr. is widely regarded as the best fighter of his generation and one of the best defensive fighters of all time.

He enters his May 2 fight with Manny Pacquiao with an undefeated record of 47-0. There's a case to be made that Pacquiao can pull an upset, but most expect Floyd to win this fight the same way he has won fights for years — making his opponent miss early, timing his counters to perfection, and eventually winning on points.

There's a radical juxtaposition between Mayweather's persona out of the ring (obnoxious, offensive, appalling) and his style within it (calm, intelligent, pragmatic). Over the years the fighters who've lost to Mayweather have spoken about his boxing brilliance in glowing terms, and explained what makes him so hard to beat.

Ricky Hatton (lost by knockout, December 8, 2007) 

"I was fighting a genius, a boxing artist. I was getting more and more frustrated. Lose your cool against Floyd Mayweather and what you do is you get knocked out."— to Showtime

Oscar De La Hoya (lost by split decision, May 5, 2007):

"Now we have to give credit to Mayweather because what Mayweather can do is what Mayweather Sr. calls 'walking your opponent down.' So what he does is he gets in the pocket and covers himself and he'll walk you down. And he'll let you throw punches and Pacquiao is probably going to keep throwing punches in bunches and he might tire himself out while Mayweather is just blocking everything. And then Mayweather can just come, throw his combinations of two or three punches, win the round, put the rounds in the bag, and win the fight." — to HBO

Canelo Alvarez (lost by majority decision, September 14, 2013)

"He doesn't expose anything. He's a fighter that if with three punches he wins the round from you, he's fine with that. He doesn't expose anything and give a beautiful fight. He doesn't care in what way he wins as long as he wins."— to FightHype

"He's very fast and accurate and moreso when he's just trying to make points. I didn't really feel his punches were that strong. But he's making points and he's very fast."— at his post-fight press conference

Shane Mosley (lost by unanimous decision, May 1, 2011)

"I felt that I had the advantage on Floyd. I was very certain that I could hit him with good shots and I thought that could be the difference. I caught him when he thought that he was out of the way. I kind of slid it, a veteran move, and caught him right on the button and rocked him. He was surprised and I was like, 'Wow, this is my chance. I'm going to get him. I'm going to knock him out.' But I just couldn't. He made the adjustment. He was able to capitalize. After that the fight was over. Mayweather did what he was supposed to do as a champion to win."— to Showtime

Juan Manuel Marquez (lost by unanimous decision, September 19, 2009)

"Mayweather has had great defense, long arms, and he's very smart."— to Showtime

"Mayweather’s reaction time is amazing. He sees what you are about to throw and is out of there before you can punch."— to WSJ

Zab Judah (lost by unanimous decision, April 8, 2006)

"His defense is still impregnable, his hand speed is still super fast, his conditioning is always marvelous. What can you say? The guy, he’s probably one of the hardest working fighters in boxing."— to Mark Giongco

Paulie Malignaggi, who thinks Mayweather is going to beat Pacquiao, gave this great description of Mayweather's defensive skill in 2013 before the Canelo fight (via Yahoo's Kevin Iole):

"He makes you miss a lot in his fights, but he doesn't make you miss the same way. If he made you miss the same way all the time, guys would start timing it and start hitting him. He'll make you miss the right hand in different ways. He'll make you miss the left hook in different ways. … He varies the ways he's able to defend and that is what makes him so difficult."

While there's an argument to be made that Pacquiao is a tricky matchup for Mayweather, there's a reason Mayweather is undefeated, and a reason he's a significant favorite to remain that way on May 2.

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The boxing world has been waiting nearly six years for Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao to fight.

Since 2009 there have been several negotiations to get the top two pound-for-pound boxers in the world to fight, but money, drug testing, and ego issues have gotten in the way.

Finally, in 2015, the two fighters made real progress on a potential megafight, thanks in part to a meeting at an NBA game.

SI's Chris Mannix and Greg Bishop broke down the making of the fight and tell the story of how Mayweather purposely arranged to meet Manny Pacquiao at a Miami Heat-Milwaukee Bucks game in January 2015. 

The meet-up has long thought to have been coincidental. ESPN's Dan Rafael reported at the time that both fighters were sitting courtside at the game and spoke at halftime. Though Rafael notes that CBS chairman Les Moonves was negotiating with both boxers' camps about a May 2 fight at the time, Rafael described the meetup as "unexpected" and quoted Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz as saying it was "purely coincidental."

However, Mannix and Bishop say the meeting was planned, at least on Mayweather's part.

On January 26, the day before the Bucks-Heat game, Mayweather told members of his entourage to travel to Las Vegas where he'd later meet them. Once they got there, they got a late text message from Mayweather telling them to pack their bags for Miami. Though they didn't initially know why, he later told them they were going to the Heat game.

One of Mayweather's bodyguards, Alonso Ridic, told Mannix and Bishop, "Halftime, boom, whistle blows, floor clears. Floyd gets up and walks right over to Pacquiao. Didn't even say a word."

It was the first time they've met.

Pictures began circling around social media:

Pacquiao and Mayweather spoke, exchanged phone numbers, and agreed to meet up later. They met later at Pacquiao's hotel room and began discussing details, with both sides reportedly excited about the other's enthusiasm.

Mayweather told Mannix and Bishop, "That's the reason the fight happened."

Of course, at the same time, Moonves was negotiating the details with both camps, including helping HBO (partner's with Pacquiao's Top Rank) and Showtime (who signed Mayweather to a $200 million deal in 2013) come to a joint pay-per-view deal.

But without clear intent from both boxers, and without Mayweather making plans to approach Pacquaio at the Heat game, it's possible the fight would've been delayed longer, if not ruled out altogether.

Read the entire SI article here >

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While everyone else settles into their favorite flatscreen-equipped bar to watch the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight on Saturday, Manny Pacquiao will be listening to a special playlist to pump himself up — and he's published it on Spotify.

Like any good pump-up sports playlist, it opens with "Eye of the Tiger."

From there, Pacquiao spans the decades, from Sly and the Family Stone to Ed Sheeran.

A pleasant surprise comes in the form of Pacquiao's apparent love of R&B and pop divas.

He includes two Ashanti tracks and Shakira's "La Tortura."

Curiously absent from the list is Pacquiao's own contribution to the annals of music: a cover of "Sometimes When We Touch," which he recorded in 2011. Thankfully, that song lives on via Spotify, too.

Pacquiao will face off against Floyd Mayweather at the MGM Grand Garden Arena this weekend. 

1. Eye of the Tiger (Survivor)

2. I Got It (Ashanti and Rick Ross)

3. Thank You (Sly & The Family Stone)

4. Stole The Show (Kygo Parson James)

5. See You Again (Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth)

6. La Tortura (Shakira and Alejandro Sanz)

7. Sugar (Maroon 5)

8. Cheerleader — Felix Jaehn Remix (Omi)

9. Gold On The Ceiling (The Black Keys)

10. Thinking Out Loud (Ed Sheeran)

11. I Loved You (Blonde Melissa Steel)

12. Lover’s Carvings (Bibio)

13. Hours (Tycho)

14. Rumble (Link Wray & His Ray Men)

15. Lights Out, Words Gone (Bombay Bicycle Club)

16. You Make Me Feel Good (Satin Jackets)

17. Rock Wit U (Awww Baby) (Ashanti)

SEE ALSO: How Floyd Mayweather orchestrated the meeting that made the Manny Pacquiao fight finally happen

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Manny Pacquiao is a boxing champion and a Philippine politician. Did you know he's also an accomplished singer?

Pacquiao released a full-length album in his native tongue of Tagalog in 2006, called "Laban Nating Lahat Ito." He also recorded a song called "Pac-Man Punch" in 2007.

But his crowning achievement is definitely this cover of Dan Hill's "Sometimes When We Touch," which was released in 2011. Click here for the YouTube video, or watch it below:

 The backstory, courtesy of Wikipedia:

"Manny Pacquiao sang this song on November 3, 2009 showing of the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show. This was Pacquiao's first guest appearance on an American late night TV talk show and his first singing performance on American TV. He would later revive this song on April 2011 as his single and reached number 19 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary top 20 list and has become the third most added song on radio playlists in the US. "

Click here to watch the Jimmy Kimmel video, or watch it below.

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Las Vegas (AFP) - Freddie Roach said Thursday he has devised an elaborate strategy that will deliver a decisive victory for Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao in his 'Fight of the Century' against Floyd Mayweather.

The revered trainer said he expects a bulked up Mayweather to seek an early rounds knockout but warned Pacquiao would be ready to go the distance if necessary 

"I have the winning formula for Manny," Roach said at the MGM Grand Hotel, with Saturday's bout just over 48 hours away.

"He (Mayweather) put on a lot of muscle for this fight. I think he will come out in early rounds and try to knock us out.

"He could also run all night. I have fallen asleep at a couple of his fights before. So I am ready for whatever he brings to the ring."

Pacquiao set up his training camp for the richest fight in boxing history in a private facility built underneath Roach's Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles.

They gutted the old laundromat that was there and replaced it with a de facto war room where Roach and Pacquiao have been crafting the plan they believe will end Mayweather's unbeaten record.

Roach said the new gym allowed Pacquiao to escape the clamour and chaos of the Wild Card that comes with having the Filipino superstar training there.

"I blocked the gym off and we kept it private. This camp I didn't have Manny trying to perform for an audience, he was performing for himself," Roach said.

Happy campers

"We had a good training camp. A lot of good sparring partners. We had eight sparring partners and we switched them up.

"Manny is too nice to his sparring partners all the time. Once he got too friendly with them we got a new one. That is why we used so many sparring partners."

Roach said earlier he thought Mayweather's unusually quiet demeanour in the build up to the fight was a sign he lacked motivation.

Pacquiao meanwhile went for a "light" run Thursday morning followed by another low-key workout in the afternoon.

"We are not focused on one strategy but two or three strategies," Pacquiao said earlier in the week. "Any way he wants to fight me is good. If he wants to run we will cut the ring off."

Roach said they are going to use Mayweather's fights against Zab Judah and Oscar De La Hoya as a blueprint for what they want to achieve in the ring. Mayweather beat Judah by a unanimous decision in 2006 and De La Hoya by a split decision a year later.

Roach said if De La Hoya had continued to use his jab effectively in the later rounds he could have beaten Mayweather.

"Oscar beat him in the first six rounds and lost to him in the last six. Oscar started following him around. We will improve on that. Zab just started tiring."

'Nothing but fear'

Roach said they are waiting to see if the gloves that Mayweather will use meets the standards. They have asked the boxing officials to press the issue because it is past the deadline for both camps to turn in their gloves in for inspection.

"We turned ours in. They are long past their due," he said. "Their gloves are hand made and our gloves are made by a computer system. I just want to make sure the weight on the gloves is fair."

Mayweather's trainer, Mayweather Sr., said Thursday the gloves issue reflected fear in the Pacquiao camp.

"The gloves are not an issue. They ain't got nothing but fear," Mayweather Sr. said.

Asked about former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson's comment that Mayweather was "a very small, scared man", Roach said he agrees.

"Mike knows a lot about boxing," said Roach, who believes Mayweather's 38-year-old legs may not be as elusive as they once were.

"I don't think his legs are there anymore. He can't move like he used to. We will catch him," Roach said.

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Floyd Mayweather, Jr.'s nickname is "Money" for a good reason. He's practically made of cash. And this weekend, the boxer's bout with long-time rival Manny Pacquiao is set to add another $200 million to his already hefty bank account. 

That is in addition to the more than $105 million the flamboyant boxing legend made in 2014. 

And boy, does he know how to spend it! 

Earlier this year, Money Mayweather tweeted out a photo of his jet, a collection exotic cars, and the words "Welcome to my world."

 For those who are curious, here's a breakdown of everything in Money's photo — and their approximate values:

A. Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano — $350,000

B. Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet —  $170,000

C. Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 — $400,000

D. Ferrari 458 Italia Spider — $260,000

E. Floyd "Money" Mayweather — net worth est. $280 million.

F.  Ferrari 458 Italia Spider — $260,000

G. Gulfstream GIII — est. $2 million.

H. Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport — $1.9 million

I. Bugatti 16.4 Veyron — $1.3 million

J. Bugatti 16.4 Veyron —  $1.3 million

The total value of the exotic cars in Mayweather's photo is roughly $5.94 million. But that's not all. The boxer has reportedly owned more than 100 luxury cars over the years and is known to keep a collection of white painted cars in Miami in addition to a fleet of black painted cars in Las Vegas.

However, based on some of the prices the boxer quoted in a recent interview with ESPN, it is likely he grossly overpaid for many of the cars in his collection.

Then again, for a guy with an estimated net worth of more than $280 million, this is but a drop in the bucket. After all, we're talking about the same Mayweather who reportedly keeps $123 million in a single bank account. 

Money Mayweather doesn't claim to be an automotive collector in the same realm as a Jay Leno or a Jerry Seinfeld. Rather, he seems to be a guy who enjoys having nice things around — multiple copies of the same nice things. At the end of the day, driving the same Bugatti everyday of the week would be ... uncivilized. 

SEE ALSO: Check out these 23 incredible cars from the Shanghai Auto Show

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On the eve of the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight, the experts have weighed in with their predictions.

While Mayweather is the betting favorite, the boxing world is more split on who will win than you'd expect.

Some think Pacquiao's left hand could lead him to the upset, and others think Mayweather's technique will crush Pacquiao.

Here's who the experts have winning:

• Dan Rafael, ESPN: Mayweather by decision
• Teddy Atlas, ESPN/'Friday Night Fights': Pacquiao by split decision
• Brian Campbell, ESPN: Pacquiao by split decision
• Nigel Collins, ESPN/'Friday Night Fights': Pacquiao by decision
• Bernardo Osuna, ESPN/'Friday Night Fights': Mayweather by split decision
• Joe Tessitore, ESPN/'Friday Night Fights': Majority draw
• Rafe Bartholomew, Grantland: Pacquiao by decision
• Eric Raskin, Grantland: Mayweather by decision
• Kevin Iole, Yahoo: Mayweather
• Jonathan Snowden, Bleacher Report: Mayweather by decision
• Kelsey McCarson, Bleacher Report: Pacquiao by close decision
• Ricky Hatton, boxer-opponent of Mayweather and Pacquiao: Mayweather
• Oscar De La Hoya, boxer-opponent of Mayweather and Pacquiao: Mayweather
• Shane Mosley, boxer-opponent of Mayweather and Pacquiao: Mayweather
• Miguel Cotto, boxer-opponent of Mayweather and Pacquiao: Pacquiao
• Juan Manuel Marquez, boxer-opponent of Mayweather and Pacquiao: Mayweather
• Chris Algieri, boxer-opponent of Pacquiao: Mayweather

Total: Mayweather: 10; Pacquiao: 6

The boxing world is pretty split on who the favorite is, which only adds intrigue to the richest fight of all time.

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As dominant as Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been over the better part of the last 20 years, there has always been a debate in the boxing world about whether he's susceptible to left-handed, or southpaw, fighters.

While he's the favorite over Manny Pacquiao on May 2, some are making the case that Pacquiao — the best southpaw of his generation — has some inherent advantages that could carry him to an upset.

Oscar De La Hoya has been in the ring with both Mayweather and Pacquiao. He went on Tim Kawakami's podcast on Thursday to talk about the fight, and mentioned the flaw in Mayweather's impregnable defense that could give Pacquiao an opening.

"I've preached this all along. The left hand is the Kryptonite for Mayweather. He just does not know how to block a jab. It's just not part of his arsenal. It's not a part of his defense, blocking that jab.

"What's going to be interesting is that Pacquiao has a lot of leg movement. So if he can keep firing that left hand, doubling it up and moving inside, moving outside he can give Floyd some trouble and make him think up there. Because you have to make Mayweather think. You have to take him out of his comfort zone. If Mayweather gets comfortable, he can cruise and win a relatively easy fight for 12 rounds."

Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach said something similar in an interview with SI's Greg Bishop. Roach explained that Mayweather's patented defense — where he guards his body with his left arm, deflects punches with his left shoulder, and blocks/counters with his right hand — won't be as dominant against Pacquiao because he's a southpaw.

Here's Mayweather's shoulder-roll defense in action against a righty. Would it be as effective against a lefty?

In preparation for the fight, Pacquiao has been watching tape of Mayweather's 2006 fight against Zab Judah.

Judah, a southpaw, gave Mayweather relative problems early in that fight and even had the lead after four rounds. Before Mayweather took control of the fight and eventually won, Judah landed a left hand or two through Mayweather's defense:

Pacquiao is quick, unorthodox, and a southpaw. In 2009 he destroyed De La Hoya in a beating that an HBO analyst declared "Death by 1,000 left hands."

If anyone can take what Judah did well against Mayweather to the next level, it's Pacquiao, right?

Both fighters are keenly aware of this dynamic. While Pacquiao is studying Judah to see what he can learn, Mayweather went a step further. He actually hired Judah to be his sparring partner during his prefight training camp. Mayweather is famously calculating and tactically intelligent when he gets in the ring. He should be fully prepared for Pacquiao's left on May 2, despite the borderline-impossible-to-believe claim that he hasn't watched a single Pacquiao fight on tape.

It's also worth noting that Mayweather has beaten every southpaw he has faced, along with the rest of his opponents.

Despite that, the Floyd-southpaws theory has always had legs.

In 2012 Bob Arum — the Top Rank boss who promotes Pacquiao and was Mayweather's promoter between 1996 and 2007 — said Floyd turned down $100 million to fight Pacquiao because he hates southpaws (via Deadspin):

"But Mayweather will not fight him. Now why am I saying that? I'm not saying it to be, I know the guy and I know what his problem is, Mayweather, because we had him for 10 and a half years and his problem was he hated, he never wanted to face a southpaw and a southpaw that can move and punch with his left hand makes Mayweather completely vulnerable. All you have to do was watch him in the (DeMarcus) Corley fight where he didn't realize Corley was one when he made the fight. Corley shook him up and had him in trouble. Why? Because Mayweather is a sensational defensive fighter but that's against an orthodox guy. If he goes against a southpaw he opens himself up. You saw that happen in the Cotto fight because Cotto is a right handed fighter but he's really a southpaw that's converted and Cotto hurt him because he doesn't have a good defense to the left hand."

On May 2, Mayweather will get the chance to disprove this theory and end a debate that has lingered for years.

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With a 47-0 record, Floyd Mayweather is one of boxing's fiercest competitors. Here's why Mayweather is unbeatable, as told by the athletes who he's defeated.

Produced by Devan Joseph. Special thanks to Tony Manfred.

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Manny Pacquiao's career earnings are expected to surpass $400 million when he faces Floyd Mayweather in the "The Fight of the Century" on May 2.

This weekend alone, Pacquiao is expected to make more than $100 million.

While Manny isn't as flashy as Mayweather, he has lot of money to spend and he does it in some odd and over-the-top ways befitting a wealthy boxer.

Pacquiao earned $41.8 million in 2014, making him world's 11th-highest-paid athlete.

SOURCE: Forbes.com

He makes almost all his money in the ring, pulling in around $20 million per bout.

SOURCE: Forbes.com

But Manny is expected to make "well over $100 million" for the fight against Mayweather, the richest purse of his career.

SOURCE: New York Times