How Floyd Mayweather ended up in Paddy Power pants

Paddy Power are known for their outrageous publicity stunts and they were never going to let the summer’s biggest sporting event, Mayweather vs McGregor, pass without comment. The day before the fight, at the weigh in, with the world watching the boxing legend stepped up on scales to reveal a pair of Paddy Power Lucky Pants. The lucky pants have a rich history at Paddy Power with previous owners including the Danish footballer Nicklas Bendtner and boxer Dereck “Del Boy” Chisora. The Irish bookmakers have since explained the unusual chain of events that resulted in the boxing icon sporting the emerald briefs.

From Dublin to Las Vegas

Over at Paddy Power, News Head of Major Brand Activations at Paddy Power Paul Mallon has explained how the Mayweather deal came together, a story that encompasses nightclubs, yoga, late nights and the world’s most famous boxer. “We took two trunk-loads of custom-made Paddy Power Lucky Pants from Dublin to Vegas to present to Floyd Mayweather – with ‘Always Bet on Black’ worked into the branding at the request of his crew.” Mayweather proved to be difficult but after two days and a number of false starts, they finally landed their man. “We were supposed to meet Monday, but he went to yoga instead, which is fair enough. So, we eventually met at his Las Vegas gentleman’s club, Girl Collection, at 2am on Tuesday,” said Mallon. After being ushered into a backroom by the boxer’s bodyguards the Paddy Power team presented Mayweather with the Lucky Pants, “He doesn’t do handshakes, but he gave a good double fist pump as a seal of approval.”

£3,000 Lucky Pants

Mayweather is known as a man of expensive tastes (he owns two fleets of luxury cars split between his houses in Miami and Las Vegas including a $290,000 Bentley) so Paddy Power had to come up with a very special version of their signature lucky pants for him to wear. It has been reported that Mayweather spends $6,500 per year on boxers and then throws them out after wearing them once. The briefs cost a whopping £3,000 and were designed specifically for Mayweather himself. In classic Paddy Power style, the unique pants were emblazoned with the phrase ‘always bet on black’. The slogan was designed as a retort to Mayweather’s MMA opponent Conor McGregor’s infamous ‘F**k You’ suit that he’d worn during the fights promotional tour.

Making a luxury pair of pants is not an easy task and Paddy Power’s Merchandise Chief Jenny Callaghan has described the difficulties that the company faced trying to source such an unusual luxury item. “Mayweather is no cheapskate and it was a challenge to make a suitable pair of green underpants, especially with the request that ‘Always Bet on Black’ was to be worked into them”. The operation was top secret and the suppliers weren’t told who the pants were being made for. After a few false starts and a lot of cash, a final design was eventually settled on. “The first that came back looked like my 80-year-old grandad’s saggy underpants, however, the next two options were a step-up in design and we sighed with relief. The pair eventually worn by Floyd for the weigh-in was created by Leeds-based New Substance” said Callaghan. “All in all I would say we have spent in excess of 10k just to get a pair of pants/shorts that will work for the occasion.”