Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. didn’t quite walk away from his bout with Juan Manuel Marquez with all that he had hoped for… That $10 million prize money was chopped in half after he agreed to pay $5.6 million in back taxes to the IRS. The agreement put the breaks on a potential levy on Mayweather’s winnings for back taxes; the IRS had sent the Nevada Athletic Commission a notice of levy on September 4, about two weeks before Mayweather’s fight in an effort to collect the taxes due. They rescinded the levy notice about a week before the fight after reaching an agreement with Mayweather.
However, Mayweather’s tax attorney, Jeffrey Morse, claims that the feds never planned to take the money. Morse also said he expected the IRS to release the $6.17 million lien filed last year against Mayweather (that hasn’t happened yet). The levy was valued at about $5.6 million.
Despite Morse’s prepared statements PR nonsense characterizations about Mayweather’s intentions to become or remain compliant, Mayweather has quite a history with the IRS. Liens have been filed against Mayweather in prior years after he failed to pay what he owed in 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2006. This most recent lien was for 2007.
Mayweather also owes the State of New Jersey almost $200,000 for unpaid taxes (that debt has not yet been paid).
In addition to tax woes, Mayweather’s dance card has been quite full: he’s been liened by a number of homeowner associations and has at least one lawsuit pending for failing to make payments owed on a car. It seems that the boxer, who likes to call himself “Money”, may be able to manage himself in the ring but can’t seem to manage his money out of it.
