Eric Siu breaks down the Mayweather-Logan Paul exhibition as a business move, analyzing subscriber counts, reported purses, PPV revenue potential, and how both fighters monetized the spectacle despite boxing purists' objections.
Today, let's talk about the Floyd Mayweather versus Logan Paul fight. So I think this is great, and, you know, a lot of people are calling this a disgrace to boxing. So I just want to kind of talk about things from a business perspective and talk about kind of what's going on through, at least from what I'm seeing. And so Floyd Mayweather, obviously— let's just take a look at my screen over here. He is a champion boxer. And he's 50-0. He actually fought Conor McGregor and beat him out. He's got 24 million followers on Instagram. Let's just take a look at this. The Nevada State Athletic Commission confirmed on Friday night that each— the minimum each fighter will earn is $100 million for Floyd Mayweather and $30 million for Conor McGregor. So they probably earned a lot more than that. But, you know, also, don't just think about the money. I think the money is certainly important, but also thinking about the publicity that they're going to be getting, right? Because if you look at Logan Paul, he's got 18 million followers. He's a— Influencer. He's got, you know, he— I think he started growing off of Vine initially, and then he kind of moved over to YouTube, and he kind of, you know, he's a YouTube influencer. That's what he is. And now he started getting into boxing, started boxing other influencers. And, you know, people might say, oh, you know, this guy's like a clown, but he actually has, you know, organized bouts in like at the Staples Center, as an example, where the Lakers play. And so, You know, if you look at the fight that they have going on here, it starts at $25 and it kind of keeps going up from there. I would say, I mean, it's gonna be, you know, we're talking maybe it's in the range of, you know, $100 million plus, right? If you think about the number of people that will be watching, maybe 1 million, 2 million, 3 million people or so. But, you know, this is not even just— we're not even just talking about, you know, Instagram here, but if we look at Logan Paul's YouTube, Let's take a look at how big he is over there. So Logan Paul's YouTube is how many people? It is 22 million subscribers, right? So, you know, they're basically cross-promoting each other. I'm sure they have respect for each other. They've both, whether you like them or not, they've both done something in their careers, right? Logan Paul has actually made something of himself. Sure, you can say he kind of messes around, he makes questionable decisions, but at the end of the day, he's managed to create a business of him, right? He's managed to leverage media. And Floyd Mayweather, it's just performance around boxing. And then, you know, he does all these promotions with like fighters like Conor McGregor. And so, you know, you got people like this over here, they're calling it a disgrace, right? Absolute disgrace for the whole sport of boxing. It's a joke and a disgrace. I don't know if I would call it a disgrace when at the end of the day, if their goals are to promote themselves and to also, you know, make a living off of it, You know, what's wrong with that, right? And I think if there was— if— I think Floyd definitely respects the sport of boxing. He comes from that world, right? And then Logan's trying to make a name for himself as well, so that should make headlines, right? So I think they both see an opportunity here, and, you know, business is about adding value to people, and it's about opportunity as well. And not necessarily everyone would agree with it, but, you know, at the end of the day, neither of them are really hurting anybody. So, why not do it? So, I think it's smart from a business perspective. I think if we're talking about the legacy of boxing, I don't know, right? I'm not like a crazy boxing fan. But, you know, there's a method to the madness, right? It's not like Floyd's an idiot or Logan's an idiot. And so, you know, I just find that fascinating. And yeah, I mean, Logan's done things such as, you know, filmed a dead body in a Japanese forest, you know, where people commit suicide. And then, you know, You know, he's also lost in a fight before, but he's continuing on. And I think it's smart, like, like all the business decisions that they're making. Like, I'm just thinking about all the logistics. Who's gonna coordinate all this? Who's gonna help with, who's gonna help with, you know, where do you pick the venue? And, you know, what payment mechanisms are you gonna use to collect payment, right? How do you organize this, these whole tiers right here where it's like it gets bigger and bigger? Who's gonna organize all the promotions, right? So obviously that takes a lot of money, but there's also a lot of other business lessons there where we're talking about, you know what, forget about how to do it, it's all about who to do it, right? Who can I hire? Who can I hire? Who can I hire to do all this stuff, right? And you know, they have the right people supporting them. And so there's that. I mean, obviously, you know, Logan's like 20 years younger than Floyd Mayweather, who's 43. Yeah. And, you know, we'll see how it goes. They call each other out on Twitter, that gets a lot of impressions. You know, it's gonna go up on YouTube, it's gonna go up on Instagram, it's gonna go everywhere, right? People are gonna be talking about it. It's gonna be good for both of their brands. And I don't care what you say about that, because from a marketing perspective, that is what it is. So, that is it for today. Go to levelingup.com if you want a free chapter of my upcoming book, Leveling Up. And you can go to your favorite online retailer to pick it up if you just want to grab it. It's $20, uh, and just type in Leveling Up Eric Siu. And that is it for today, and we will catch you later.
