Floyd Mayweather Jr., the champion boxer turned businessman, stood on a Las Vegas stage in October 2021 and told owners of franchises in the chain of fitness studios bearing his name how far he would go to help their investment pay off.
"If you guys got problems with filling your gym up, call me, imma come help fill it up," Mayweather told the crowd in a video clip shared with Business Insider.
"For free — you call me, I'm gonna put my own gas and come to wherever you're at," he added.
The remarks from the undefeated fighter — ranked as the top boxer of this century by ESPN — roused David Weis, one of scores of franchisees who attended the event that evening at the Aria resort and casino on the Las Vegas strip.
By then, Weis had spent $85,000 acquiring the rights to open six Mayweather Boxing and Fitness studios on the west side of Los Angeles. Bringing those gyms into operation, he later told BI, would require significantly more investment — hundreds of thousands of dollars to rent and renovate retail spaces and outfit them with equipment and staff.
Weis, along with four other attendees who spoke with Business Insider, said that Mayweather's assurances helped give them the confidence to take that next big financial leap.
"A lot of us were either planning to open or starting the first one," he said. "And at that convention we're like, 'Damn, this guy is going to take us to the moon.'"
Weis said he eventually spent more than a million dollars building out two locations, in Culver City and Redondo Beach, California. He purchased a third, in North Brunswick, New Jersey, in 2023, and he took over the operations and ownership of another location in Santa Barbara in 2022. All have since shuttered — the last one, in Culver City, on May 2. Weis said he has lost his entire investment.
"The challenges are widespread"
Weis' studios are among dozens of Mayweather Boxing and Fitness locations that have closed around the country in the past two years. Four of the franchisees have sued the company, Mayweather, and its cofounders.
Of the 70 franchises that were in operation at the brand's peak in 2023, according to a company financial statement, Business Insider could confirm that 26 are still in business in the US.
Bobby Samini, an attorney for Mayweather and the business, said in a written response to questions from Business Insider that more than 30 locations are open. The company did not provide a list.
"The single-modality boutique fitness market has suffered significantly in the past five years," Samini wrote. "The challenges are widespread across the entire category." Single-modality boutique fitness refers to gyms focused on one activity, in this case, boxing.
Experts told BI that consumers have been pinched by inflation and have migrated to bigger box gyms with lower monthly membership rates and a menu of workout options. Technology has also allowed more gymgoers to work out at home. Those shifts have hurt higher-priced, niche studio concepts like Mayweather Boxing and Fitness, where a monthly membership at some locations can cost as much as $300.
Traditional gym memberships in the US have surpassed pre-pandemic levels, according to a 2024 study from the Health and Fitness Association, an industry trade group. Boutique studio memberships remain below their 2019 peak.
"Some customers have found it's kind of easier to step away from those more niche studio memberships, as they are more likely to view them as complementary," said Anton Severin, vice president of research at the Health and Fitness Association.
Ten franchisees who spoke to BI acknowledged those broader challenges. They also blame Mayweather and company executives for the poor performance. They said they believed the 48-year-old former prizefighter, with a social media following in the tens of millions and status as one of boxing's most recognizable champions, had the power to break through, much like George Foreman did with his famous electric grill in the mid-1990s.
Mayweather, they said, hasn't done enough to promote the brand. When he has appeared on social media or in interviews, it was often to tout other products and businesses, including real estate investments.
"I don't know exactly what happened in this business, but what I do know is that Floyd did not do us any favors," said Sara McSpedon, who opened two Mayweather Boxing and Fitness gyms in Chicago, one in 2020 and the other in 2022. She said that she recently rebranded one and plans to rebrand the other because it has performed so poorly. McSpedon estimates that she's out $750,000 on the two gyms.
In his written statement, Samini said that Mayweather had "the sincerest intention of publicly supporting the franchisees" and went "above and beyond" his duties to the brand.
He said that the comments Mayweather made on stage in Las Vegas were part of an "off-the-cuff speech" and that franchise agreements did not "include any provisions obligating Mayweather to provide any services whatsoever to franchisees, other than licensing his name."
John Lee, an investor who purchased an equity stake in the parent company of the franchise, MW Fitness Holdings, had nothing but good things to say about the business. "I am a huge fan of Floyd and very happy to be an investor in Mayweather Fitness," he told Business Insider when reached for comment.
Birth of a boxing business
Mayweather Boxing and Fitness was the brainchild of James Williams, a 45-year-old, British-born Wharton grad who previously worked as a corporate lawyer and as a business consultant for Bain & Company. He met Mayweather in 2013 and said he was amazed that the fighter, then near the peak of his boxing career, was an untapped brand.
"He had never taken a major licensing, sponsorship, or endorsement deal," Williams said.
With Williams as CEO, Mayweather Fitness and Boxing launched in 2017, the year Mayweather fought mixed martial arts star Conor McGregor in one of boxing's most lucrative superfights. A 2023 financial filing says Mayweather owns 31.45 percent of parent company MW Fitness Holdings.
Williams acknowledged that the chain has struggled, but attributed its difficulties to the problems in the broader fitness market. He also said that some franchisees may not have followed the playbook for success provided by him and his corporate team.
"Franchisees think Floyd is the silver bullet to a business that may be struggling, and he's just not," Williams said. "What's going to make it successful is an engaged owner who's in there, who has a strong team, who's calling every day, training their team on scripts."
Williams provided a screen recording of hundreds of publicity photos and videos of Mayweather taken for the purpose of marketing the gyms and creating online and studio content. The pictures and videos depict Mayweather on a handful of occasions, including a visit to a gym in Torrance, California, and another location in Kansas City, Missouri, that was owned by Mayweather's brother-in-law. Both studios have since closed.
Williams also shared a video of more than two dozen Instagram stories that Mayweather appears to have posted in a single batch in October 2022. (Knowing exactly what an Instagram user posts on the platform is difficult because stories disappear after 24 hours with no trace.)
"It is deeply misleading to suggest there's a lack of promotion or contribution from Floyd," Williams wrote in a follow-up email to BI. "Floyd is featured in every studio, every day, both in digital programming and marketing materials."
Betting on a champion
A 2023 public filing described Mayweather as "responsible for supporting marketing and promotion" for the company.
Gym owners contend that Mayweather showed a lack of involvement that was obvious and, in some instances, galling.
The last permanent post that Mayweather made on Instagram to his nearly 30 million followers about the brand was in October 2021. During an appearance in February on Fox News, he promoted a new line of supplements but didn't mention that they would be sold in his gyms. As a guest on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" the same day, Mayweather again discussed the supplements, a lavish weeklong birthday celebration in Miami, and his diamond-encrusted watch. He mentioned the gyms at the end of the interview.
That offer from Mayweather to visit gyms that were in need of a boost of publicity? Several franchisees said they were rebuffed or told they would have to pay Mayweather around $30,000 to make an appearance.
McSpedon said Mayweather personally told her after his speech in Las Vegas that he would visit one of her Chicago gyms. When she followed up in the months after the event, the corporate team ignored her, she said.
"So I just gave up," she said.
Derek Love, who opened a Mayweather Boxing and Fitness location in Decatur, Georgia, in late 2022 with his wife and grown daughter, said that he, too, was told Mayweather would visit.
About six months before his gym opened, Love met Mayweather at the grand opening of a location in Nashville that is part-owned by Mayweather's cousin.
"The money man, the money man, the money man," Mayweather says in a video clip recorded by Love. "Mayweather Boxing and Fitness, Decatur, Georgia, I'm on my way."
Love said the corporate team later told him there would be a fee. When he learned from other gym owners that it was in the range of $30,000, he said he was "shocked and never asked again."
Starting in April 2022, the company's federally mandated franchise disclosure document included a section that franchisees could request a visit from Mayweather for $50,000. Earlier versions of the document made no mention of such a fee.
Love, a 58-year-old retired military veteran, closed his gym in early 2024 and said he and his family lost roughly a million dollars.
Williams said that Mayweather did visit some gyms and said that the company gathered data that showed the former champ's presence didn't boost membership. Gyms that did not receive an appearance had 2.6 times more revenue and sold 7.4 times as many memberships than those that did, Williams said in an email to BI. Williams did not provide any of the data, including which gyms were used to make those calculations.
"If he showed up, it would be probably a three-hour high where people would gather — boxing enthusiasts, Floyd enthusiasts — not people that are paying $150 a month or $160 a month," said Kerry Hamilton-Gannaway, a franchisee who owns a gym in Melbourne, Florida.
Burrel Wilks, a friend of Mayweather's who co-founded the gym chain with Williams and Mayweather, said Mayweather didn't come to the studio he opened in Newport Coast, California and "I didn't ask him to."
"It ain't about Floyd showing up," Wilks said. "What's going to get the gym going is the hard work and dedication that we have to do."
Wilks' gym failed and closed last year.
Guy Castillo, a commercial contractor in Orange County, California, who opened a Mayweather location in San Diego in 2022, bristled at the idea that a visit from Mayweather wouldn't have been impactful.
"We would've had 500-800 members right there," Castillo said, speculating on the customer interest Mayweather could have generated.
Castillo said he launched his studio with about 250 initial members by resorting to heavy promotional discounts. He closed the gym at the end of 2023, he said, at a loss of nearly $2 million — much of it from rent he had to pay after the business went dark.
Some franchisees said they suffered life-changing financial setbacks as a result of their investment in the chain.
Sunny Dharni purchased the rights for 10 franchises in Northern California in 2019 for $120,000 and opened two studios, in Elk Grove and Folsom, California, in 2021 and 2023, respectively.
Dharni was evicted from the Elk Grove studio in 2024, and his former landlord is suing for $70,000 in unpaid rent. He said he sold the Folsom location at a loss last year. In May, another creditor sued the limited liability company associated with Dharni's studios for $75,000, alleging breach of contract and non-payment.
Dharni said he has struggled to pay back roughly $700,000 in business loans he took out to help launch the studios.
"It's been terrible, I mean depressing, to say the least," Dharni, 31, said. "Losing everything that I had saved up — my credit is shot."
Dharni said he tried to arrange a deal with Williams to sell some of his franchise rights back to the company to recoup a portion of his losses. Williams, he said, eventually stopped returning his calls.
"It's almost like a betrayal type of feeling," Dharni said.
Mayweather vs. Franchisees
Weis and Castillo are in a group of six gym owners who are working with an attorney and seeking to initiate mediation with the brand to reimburse them.
Another group of four franchisees sued the company, along with Mayweather, Williams, and Wilks, in Los Angeles Superior Court last year. The lawsuit, which is ongoing, claims that the plaintiffs "lost over $8,000,000 due to defendants' misrepresentations and misleading statements" and seeks financial restitution.
The suit alleges that Williams misled the franchisees on several occasions by telling them that the company would buy their locations if they struggled and that the business was growing rapidly, even as it was clear that it wasn't.
The lawsuit also accuses the company's cofounders of taking $2 million out of the business "for their own personal enrichment." Mayweather Boxing and Fitness denied the allegations in an answer to the complaint.
"We categorically reject their claims," Williams wrote in an email. "They are spurious and unfounded, and we are defending against them vigorously."
While several franchisees have lost financially, Mayweather disclosed that he made $3 million in royalties in a legal letter, previously reported by TMZ, that his lawyer sent to Williams, Wilks, and the fitness company in May as part of a dispute over the operations of the business. (Williams said all payments to Mayweather came from MW Fitness Holdings, the parent company.)
The letter was sent after Business Insider presented questions to Mayweather's lawyer about the complaints from gym franchisees, and it referenced BI's reporting while drawing distance between the boxer and the fitness company.
"Mr. Mayweather has not participated in management, operations, or strategic oversight of these entities," it read. "Despite his limited involvement as a brand ambassador, your organizations have continually and improperly exploited his name, image, and likeness for financial gain while simultaneously embroiling him in lawsuits and negative press," the letter said.
Williams told TMZ: "My team and I have consistently operated Mayweather Fitness with integrity and in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, and we look forward to that being clearly reflected through current proceedings.
"I've always had a great relationship with Floyd, and want to make clear that the letter is correct in stating that I oversee and am responsible for all operational aspects of the business. Floyd is not involved in the day-to-day operations."
Buying into a retail franchise is inherently risky, experts say. If the business begins to falter, franchisees have little leeway to adjust the product offering, design elements, or business model without corporate approval.
"It's not a fungible asset," said Ben Lawrence, professor of franchise entrepreneurship at Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business. "You build to the specifications of the brand, and then you invest your life in that brand."
MW Fitness Holdings disclosed its financial challenges in an offering statement filed with the SEC ahead of a 2023 equity crowdfunding campaign.
Balance sheets showed net losses of $3.7 million in 2021 and $3.3 million in 2022. Revenue declined by $2.2 million in 2022; royalty payments from franchises doubled, while money from property and gym equipment sales to franchisees, the bulk of the revenue, was down sharply.
The filing showed the company had $2.4 million of debt that was personally guaranteed by Williams, who also lent the company $400,000 at a 7% interest rate.
The company made a $100,000 loan to Mayweather, in 2017. That debt was not repaid, and the company wrote it off in 2023.
Despite the red ink, Mayweather said the company was poised for "exponential" growth in a 2023 promotional video for the crowdfunding campaign.
"I truly believe this will be a multibillion-dollar company someday," he said.
Note: Floyd Mayweather filed a defamation lawsuit against Business Insider in connection with a previous story about Mayweather's real estate investments. The case is pending, and BI stands by its reporting.
