Recently there have been a number of stories about some pretty huge Floyd Mayweather sports bets, and this really should not surprise us. The champion boxer they call “Money” has been making insane sports bets for years now. And while he has always remained strangely silent about his losses, he never hesitates to brag about his big wins on social media. So in all likelihood, he’s just in the middle of a hot streak.
Today, in honor of said hot streak, we’re going to take a look at the nine most insane Mayweather sports bets…that we know about.
Think that $500 prop bet you took on Super Bowl XLVIII was bold? Think again.
When South Carolina played Arkansas in 2012, the line had the Gamecocks up seven points at the half. Floyd "Money" Mayweather bet $150 that Steve Spurrier and the boys would beat that. So when they headed to the locker room up 21-10, Floyd collected a cool $125,000.
9. $150K on South Carolina (November 10, 2012)
Floyd liked what he saw from the Cowboys in the first half of their season-opener against the Cowboys in 2012, and he liked the +1.5 spread at -110 at halftime. So he placed a $200,000 bet that earned him $181,818.20 when the Cowboys held on for a 24-17 victory.
Was he trying to hedge a previous bet against the Cowboys, or was he trying to double down on his initial bet on the Cowboys? Only The Money Team knows that. Either way, $181,818.20 is a lot of money.
8. $200K on the Cowboys (September 5, 2012)
A lot of people probably picked the defending Super Bowl champs to beat Washington by more than seven points. I don't gamble because it's illegal in my state, but if I did, hypothetically, I would have taken this bet.
So what separates people like me from Floyd Mayweather? I "would have" bet maybe $25 on the Seahawks, which is $199,975 less than what Mayweather actually bet.
7. $220K on the Seahawks (October 6, 2014)
The Instagram pic of the ticket that once accompanied this Tweet has since been deleted. But I did some digging and found the payout for this bet: $228,099.10.
Unfortunately I don't know what the line was, but according to Buzzfeed it was a halftime bet. And given that Atlanta was only up three on Kansas City at the half, Floyd must have had a premonition that the Falcons would come on strong.
They won the game 40-24.
6. $250K on the Falcons (September 9, 2012)
The Spurs got off to a 7-1 start in 2012 while the Lakers went 3-4 and got their coach fired. However, for some reason, the Spurs were only one-point favorites when they met in the second week of that season, so Floyd put $75K on the Spurs at 1:00pm and then went back five hours later and put down another $200K.
He was then the happiest person in the Staples Center when Danny Green hit the game-winning jumper with 9.3 seconds left, giving the Spurs two-point, 84-82 victory.
5. $275K on the Spurs (November 13, 2012)
I have no idea why the spread was only one point for the OKC-Utah game on February 10, 2012. The Jazz were 13-12, while the Thunder were 21-6. But that was the spread, and Floyd pounced, raking in $227,272 on a full time bet and another $217,391 on a first half bet, for a grand total of $444,663.
Not bad, huh?
4. $500K on the Thunder (February 10, 2012)
Did anyone think the Colts would only beat the Jaguars by seven points? Well, maybe a few people. Anything can happen. But with a moneyline of just -105, this one was too good for Floyd to pass up. So he didn't, betting $720, 000 and giving us a pretty great quip about how it's never luck when you bet on Luck. (Harharhar.)
3. $720K on the Colts (September 21, 2014)
The second-most insane Mayweather sports bet happens to be the most recent. Over the weekend, Peyton Manning and the Broncos were only listed as 7.5-point favorites over the hapless New York Jets. However, the moneyline was -130, meaning to make good money off these favorable odds you'd have to bet a lot. So Floyd bet $815K on the Broncos, winning $626,923.08 when they won 31-17.
2. $815K on the Broncos (October 12, 2014)
There are lots of rumors about insane Floyd Mayweather sports bets. One holds that he bet $3 million that Michigan would beat the spread against Alabama in 2012, which they did not. Another holds that he bet $10 on the Broncos over the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII. But neither of those rumors are actually true.
The biggest, most insane sports bet we know Floyd made was this $1.1 million bet that No. 2 Oregon would beat the 7.5-point spread against Arizona State in 2012. And when the Ducks won 43-21, Money Mayweather collected a cool $1 million.