Floyd Mayweather on 50 Cent: “He’s Getting Involved in Boxing”
Before 50 Cent ever became a household name and one of the biggest rappers in the history of hip-hop, he had a budding amateur boxing career going in Southside Jamaica, Queens.
With his best friend being undefeated boxing great Floyd Mayweather, Jr., ’Fif may be plotting to take his love for the sweet science a step further—as in starting his own boxing promotion company … and maybe even one day putting back on the gloves himself.
“As far as boxing I think he is going to be involved with the promotion side, we might even have him fight on pay per view one time,” Mayweather told XXL during a conference call on Wednesday (April 25) for his impending May 5 bout with Miguel Cotto live from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. “We don’t know what the future holds, but he is getting involved with boxing.”
The boxing promotion game already includes Bob Arum’s Top Rank and Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, the latter being responsible for setting up and promoting Mayweather’s bout with Cotto.
So, what would ’Fif and Mayweather, better known as the Money team, bring to the boxing promotion game that’s different?
“We would bring a lot as far as a new fan base,” Mayweather says. “He would bring a lot to the table. We believe there’s enough to go around, he’s not just my friend, he’s not just my best friend, he’s one of my business partners and one of the smartest guys I know.”
Before the Money Team, which covered one of five XXL December/January covers a few months back, can plot out their promotion business, 50 will perform and lead his best friend down to the ring for his May 5 prize fight.—Mark Lelinwalla