A 27-year-old business association draws to a close. The Mayweather camp has lost a loyal and trusted aide in Leonard Ellerbe. The shrewd business mind behind Floyd Mayweather‘s brainchild Mayweather Promotions has decided to part ways with the company to “spend more time with his family and loved ones”. At least, this is what the official statement says! On social media, boxing analysts speculated that Ellerbe was “jumping off that sinking ship” owing to fighters deserting Mayweather Promotions in recent days. Whatever might be the reason, the CEO hat has now been passed down to former Golden Boy Promotions (GBP) CEO Richard Schaefer. The banker-turned-sports tycoon’s connection with Floyd Mayweather goes back to the days when some of Floyd Mayweather’s fights were promoted by Oscar De La Hoya’s GBP.

On that note, Floyd’s uncle, and legendary boxing trainer Jeff Mayweather, in an interview on The Mayweather Channel, shared his thoughts on the new guy who is going to join the Mayweather camp. Will he be able to bring back the glory days of Mayweather Promotions? Can his business acumen be trusted? Well, Jeff feels that his nephew has made the right decision.

Floyd Mayweather’s business decision gets the familial nod

As Jeff discussed the possible reasons behind Ellerbe leaving Mayweather Promotions, the conversation veered toward his replacement. Speaking on the matter, Mayweather said, “I think Richard Schaefer was a good move…I mean very experienced, he’s been involved in really big fights. Was involved in one of the biggest fights and that’s Floyd and De La Hoya and he used to work with De La Hoya. So, I mean, I think that should be a good fit.”  

Starting as a business manager for Oscar De La Hoya after leaving his lucrative career in banking, he later co-founded Golden Boy Promotions with Oscar De La Hoya. As the CEO of the company, he was the man who pulled the strings to bring many record-breaking boxing events to fight fans. One of which was the 2007 fight between Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya, which garnered a whopping 2.5 million PPV buys.

Jeff believes that Schaefer wouldn’t have taken the job, if he didn’t have plans to elevate Floyd’s promotional company to the next level. “He knows Floyd’s value and knows Floyd’s notoriety so basically put himself in a good position. So yeah! he’s going he’s going to work ….he’s going to work hard,” Jeff Mayweather said.

While Schaefer’s credibility is being discussed in the boxing world, it would be quite unwise not to explore his earlier business ties with Floyd.

The glue that kept ‘Money’ connected to GBP

Schaefer’s great working relationship with Floyd Mayweather meant profits rolled in for Golden Boy Promotions. For the uninitiated, GBP used to promote many of Floyd’s fights beginning in 2007. Precisely 9 bouts in total, including big-money fights with Marcos Maidana and Canelo Alvarez who were part of the GBP stable. Back then, Mayweather was the biggest draw in boxing, generating massive PPV numbers as fighters came and failed to put a loss on the smug fighter’s boxing record.

‘Pretty Boy’ was the principal cash cow for Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. But it all ended when Schaefer cut ties with GBP owing to a conflict of business interests with Oscar De La Hoya. Such was Schaefer’s influence, that Floyd decided to walk away from the company founded by Oscar De La Hoya, vowing never to fight any boxer under the GBP contract.

“Richard will have a tremendous impact in anything that he decided to do, tremendous impact,” a statement made by Ellerbe at the time read as Floyd left Golden Boy Promotions.

Therefore, it is not a surprise that a man who is steeped in finance, and familiar with the machinations of boxing commerce will be Floyd’s number one choice to run his company. Will it pay off? Only time will tell. Do you think Richard Schaefer is the right man to turn Mayweather Promotions’ fortune? Let us know in the comment section below.