Originally published 2020-06-06.
Yes, Floyd Mayweather paid for George Floyd's funeral. In early June 2020 the retired boxing champion offered to cover the costs of the funeral and memorial services for Floyd, who was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer on 25 May 2020, and the family accepted. His company's chief executive confirmed the offer, and the services went ahead in Minneapolis, North Carolina and Houston, where Floyd was laid to rest on 9 June.
Here is how the gesture came about, what it covered, and how it fitted into the wider response to Floyd's death.
What Mayweather offered and who confirmed it
The celebrity news site TMZ first reported the offer on 1 June 2020. The next day Leonard Ellerbe, chief executive of Mayweather Promotions, confirmed it to ESPN, joking that his boss would not be pleased he had talked about it: “He'll probably get mad at me for saying that, but yes, he is definitely paying for the funeral.”
According to the Associated Press account carried by US newspapers, the family accepted. The offer covered the funeral in Houston, Floyd's hometown, and the memorial services in Minnesota and North Carolina, along with related costs. Mayweather had been in direct contact with the family but had not met them in person. TMZ also published an image of a cheque said to be for $88,500; that figure came from the gossip site and was not independently confirmed by the family.
Hollywood Unlocked later reported that the connection was made through Anzel Jennings, a music executive and a mutual friend of Mayweather and Floyd's circle. That detail, too, rests on a single outlet's reporting.
The offer was first reported by TMZ and confirmed the following day by Mayweather Promotions, which said the boxer had covered similar costs for others over the years.
The memorials: Minneapolis, North Carolina and Houston
George Floyd was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1973 and grew up in Houston, Texas, before moving to Minnesota. Each of those places held a service for him.
- Minneapolis, 4 June 2020. A memorial service where the Rev. Al Sharpton gave the eulogy and called for an end to police abuse.
- North Carolina, 6 June 2020. A public viewing and a private family service in Floyd's birth state.
- Houston, 8 and 9 June 2020. A public viewing followed by the funeral. Floyd was buried next to his mother in Pearland, a city just south of Houston.
Thousands of people queued for hours in the Texas heat to pass his casket, and the funeral was broadcast live across the United States.
Not the first time Mayweather covered a funeral
Ellerbe said Mayweather had been quietly doing this kind of thing for about 20 years. One well-documented example involves Genaro Hernández, the fighter Mayweather beat in 1998 to win his first world title, the WBC super featherweight belt. When Hernández died of cancer in 2011, Mayweather paid for his funeral.
Mayweather, who lives in Las Vegas, retired in 2017 with an unbeaten record of 50 wins, having held titles in five weight divisions and beaten names such as Manny Pacquiao, Canelo Álvarez, Oscar De La Hoya and Miguel Cotto. His public image has often centred on wealth and showmanship, which is one reason a private act of support drew so much attention.
Other sports figures who stepped forward
Mayweather was one of many athletes and team owners who responded in the weeks after the murder. In Baltimore, the Ravens and the Stephen and Renee Bisciotti Foundation jointly committed $1 million to social justice reform programmes in the Baltimore area. Owner Steve Bisciotti said a committee of current and former players would choose which local organisations received the money, and that the club fully supported its players in pushing for change.
Across professional sport, players marched, spoke at rallies, wore messages on their kit and, later that summer, staged walkouts in several leagues. Donations ranged from bail funds and voter registration drives to scholarships and community programmes.
What happened after the funeral
The case that began on 25 May 2020 moved through the courts over the following year. On 20 April 2021 a jury in Minneapolis found former officer Derek Chauvin guilty of murder and manslaughter for kneeling on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes. On 25 June 2021 he was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison. The other officers present were also prosecuted.
Floyd's death became the catalyst for some of the largest protests in American history and for debate on policing in many countries. Cities changed use-of-force policies, several states passed new laws, and Floyd's name became a shorthand for demands for accountability.
Why practical help matters to grieving families
A funeral in the United States can easily cost several thousand dollars, and multiple services across three states cost far more. For a family dealing with sudden loss, intense public attention and legal questions, removing that bill is a concrete kind of help. It does not replace the calls for justice that followed Floyd's death, and it was never presented as doing so. It simply meant that, in the middle of a national reckoning, his relatives could say goodbye to him in the places he had lived, without worrying about who would pay.
If you want to help a family in a similar situation, the most useful support is usually the least visible: contributing through a verified fund the family has approved, offering practical help with meals, travel or childcare, and respecting their wishes about privacy. Public tributes matter, but so does the quiet work of making sure grieving relatives are not left carrying the costs alone. Mayweather's gesture was large and well publicised, yet at heart it was that same kind of practical kindness.
Sources: Associated Press via Bangor Daily News: Floyd Mayweather to pay for George Floyd's funeral; Wikipedia: George Floyd; Baltimore Ravens: Ravens commit funds to Baltimore-area social justice reform; original reporting by TMZ, ESPN and Hollywood Unlocked.
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