Mayweather insists he is serious about his interest and has spoken to advisers.
Boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. has revealed that he is keen on the idea of buying the Los Angeles Clippers after Donald Sterling was banned for life.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced his punishment for Sterling on Tuesday, banning the owner for life while insisting that he would urge league owners to force him to sell the team.
Mayweather is a regular at both Clippers and Lakers games, and revealed during a conversation with a group of reporters in a VIP lounge at the MGM Grand that he is speaking with his advisers over putting together a takeover bid.
He revealed he had spoken to Al Haymon about teaming with Mayweather Promotions chief executive Leonard Ellerbe, Golden Boy Promotions chief executive Richard Schaefer and possibly others to make the bid a reality.
“I called Al today about that to see if me, Leonard and Al, and hopefully Richard and a couple of other guys, a couple other of my billionaire guys, we can come together and see what we can come up with,” Mayweather said, as reported by ESPN. “Hopefully, we can do it, and it’s not just talk.
“With me, I can’t come in talking about Mayweather only gonna get 3 percent, 4 percent. I got to get a solid percentage. Do we want to buy the Clippers? Yes, we do. We are very, very interested in buying the Clippers. We’ll keep the Clippers right where they’re at. When I’m not boxing, I’m at the games all the time. We do want to buy the Clippers. Me and my team do want to buy the Clippers and we can afford the Clippers.”
Mayweather, who is set to face Marcos Maidana in a unification fight in a Showtime PPV main event on Saturday, made $73.5m in minimum purses for his two fights in 2013 which made him the world’s highest paid athlete.
While he refused to weigh in on Sterling’s comments as he insists that he has always been treated with respect by him in the past, Mayweather shared the views of many others over how well Silver has handled the situation.
Meanwhile, Oscar De La Hoya has revealed he would also be interested in acquiring a piece of the Clippers, while they will likely face competition from billionaire and former music and film mogul David Geffen, as well as Magic Johnson and the Guggenheim Partners.
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