A REMINDER FROM FLOYD MAYWEATHER, TAKE HOME $20M USD

LAS VEGAS — There was a time when Floyd Mayweather Jr. would strut into his postfight news conferences and declare his brilliance as a boxer, rave about the fact that no one can touch him.
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And after punishing Saúl Álvarez for 12 rounds on Saturday night, making the much ballyhooed event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena seem like little more than a souped-up sparring session, Mayweather did indeed boast about boxing skills. But not his own.

As Álvarez slumped in a chair on the dais with his burnt orange hair and face hanging like a wilted marigold, Mayweather, on at least five occasions, sometimes unprompted, raved about the 23-year-old Álvarez, saying he was still a top fighter and the future of the sport. Baited several times to throw a verbal jab at Álvarez, Mayweather never bit. He even suggested who Álvarez’s next opponent should be. And when asked about his own performance that improved his record to 45-0, Mayweather all but shrugged.

“I cannot say this is my best performance,” he said.

With deft footwork and lightning quick hands, the 36-year-old Mayweather is making it increasingly difficult to envision that his fighting career is anywhere near a finish line. But he already seems to be embracing a potential life after boxing by channeling a promoter’s persona and making that a larger part of his enterprise. He gave repeated shout outs to Mayweather Promotions after the fight.

“I think he’s serious about it, and I think, in a way, it reignited his love for the sport of boxing because he realizes that age is catching up to him and that there is going to be a time when he will no longer be able to compete as an active fighter,” said Richard Schaefer, the chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions. “But he wants to make sure that he can stay involved in the sport because he loves the sport.”

Already, his fight against Álvarez, who sustained his first professional defeat to go with 42 victories and one draw, has shown the potential for Mayweather to excel as a promoter. Teaming with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, Mayweather and his promotion company helped to build this fight into perhaps the most anticipated in the sport since Mayweather fought De La Hoya in 2007. Tickets sold out in less than 24 hours and the more than $20 million in sales revenue was a record.

All the anticipation was for a matchup against a fighter who did not necessarily boast a superstar’s résumé. Yet Mayweather helped to establish a dramatic story line. In the prefight buildup he was, as usual, brash, playing the foil to a young, good-looking Mexican fighting days before his home country was to celebrate its Independence Day. And Mayweather, as well as the other promoters, strategically directed compliments toward Álvarez, who is known as Canelo, raising the specter that maybe — just maybe — the much bigger fighter could drop the petit champion with one big blow.

That, of course, never happened as Álvarez grew frustrated throughout the fight as his best shots merely glanced off Mayweather’s arms. Every time Mayweather peppered him with jabs and straight rights, he jetted out of arm’s reach by the time Álvarez tried to respond.

In many ways, Mayweather seems to be taking after De La Hoya, his supposed foil during promotional events.

De La Hoya laid out the blueprint for parlaying stardom in the ring into success as a promoter. De La Hoya was not in attendance Saturday night because he checked himself into rehab for alcohol abuse earlier in the week.

It was around the time that he fought De La Hoya, Mayweather said Saturday night, that he started to put the brakes on his lifestyle. A typical training camp used to consist of going to the gym, then going shopping, then to a nightclub and then a strip club, Mayweather said. But now he is becoming more of a homebody, he said, concentrating more on his job than partying.

“I want Oscar, I want him to come home and get back to what he do best,” Mayweather said.

Schaefer dubbed the Mayweathers the royal family of boxing in the United States — Mayweather is trained by his father and uncle, who were both fighters — and said it only made sense that he would transition into promoting.

“It’s a logical step for him to stay involved in boxing,” Schaefer said, “and he’s doing it in a smart way, building his business while he’s still active.”

But in following that model, Mayweather could well be his own roadblock to becoming a successful promoter. It is difficult to sell competition when not a single boxer seems to be in the same solar system as him. Mayweather seems aware of the quandary.

His reluctance, for instance, to give his performance high marks seemed a subtle way of telling the public to keep tuning in because he has more to offer. And when asked if there were any fighters who could give him a run for his money, he paused.

“Umm ... umm,” he stuttered.

He then gestured toward Álvarez, who by this time had long immersed himself in his smartphone, changing the subject.

“This is still one of the pound-for-pound best fighters in the world today,” Mayweather said. “Before long, he’ll be champion again.”