Since turning to the "Money" moniker after his 2007 bout against Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr. has gone by the mantra, "Work smarter, not harder".
That saying couldn't be any more true heading into Sunday's exhibition bout against Logan Paul. Mayweather ended his professional career with a 10th-round stoppage of UFC star Conor McGregor in what the Hall of Famer deemed "a quick bank robbery, a quick heist" and then hopped a plane to Japan when he wrecked kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in one round on New Year's Eve in 2018. Mayweather views his return to action with the social media star the same as the McGregor contest.
"My nickname is 'Money' for a reason," Mayweather said on the "Inside Mayweather vs. Paul" show. "I worked extremely hard for years and years to get to a certain level—a level where we can start calling everything an event.
"I believe in working smarter, not harder. So if it's something easy like [the Paul fight], a legalized bank robbery, I gotta do it. I have to do it."
This weekend's affair is an eight-round exhibition that is expected to be nothing more than a sparring session like we saw between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. in November. The 44-year-old respects what Paul's done in his other ventures but feels he isn't near his level in fame and notoriety.
"[Logan and Jake Paul] are making some pretty good money from YouTube," Mayweather said. "He's made a lot of money from YouTube, but it's not Floyd Mayweather-type of money. When it comes to Floyd Mayweather, it's a different level. Believe me.
"It's fame at different levels. Fame changes the person. Like people say, 'fame changed me.' It did. It made me more cautious. It made me want to better myself and become a better person and surround myself with better people. Save my money and make smarter investments and build generational wealth. That's what I wanted to do with my fame and fortune ... that's why I'm where I'm at. I've always stayed in my lane."