The fight: Mayweather has new foe as Internal Revenue Service steps in ring
LAS VEGAS— The IRS says it’s still waiting for its cut from Floyd Mayweather Jr. from his nine-figure payday against Manny Pacquiao.
The undefeated boxer nicknamed “Money” owes $22.2 million in taxes from 2015, according to a notice of a federal tax lien filed by the IRS.
The notice shows the balance unpaid as of March 6. The lien was filed with county officials in Las Vegas in April, and the boxing champ last week filed for a temporary reprieve with the U.S. Tax Court.
Still, the boxer who regularly flaunts his wealth defended himself on Facebook on Monday, saying his “empire is rock solid” and the IRS “just wants to be part of the ‘Money May’ show.”
Mayweather’s tax troubles come as prepares for a boxing match against Irish MMA star Conor McGregor in August in Las Vegas.
Mayweather, 49-0, will be ending his retirement to face McGregor at T-Mobile Arena.
Questions over the venue were settled when promoters reached an agreement with Ice Cube to move the championship game of his Big3 basketball league. Terms weren’t disclosed, with the rapper-actor and Big3 co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz simply calling it a “generous offer that we could not refuse.”
The men appeared Tuesday at a news conference in Los Angeles, the first of four this week. They are in Toronto on Wednesday. There’s been plenty of trash talk around the fight, and McGregor didn’t miss the opportunity to attack Mayweather.
“Tell that to the tax man,” McGregor said after Mayweather flashed a $100 million check from his fight against Pacquiao.