Floyd Mayweather Jr. turns 49 today. For most retired fighters approaching 50, a birthday means a quiet dinner, maybe a throwback post on social media. For Mayweather, it means a spring exhibition against Mike Tyson, a $340 million fraud lawsuit against Showtime, and — as of yesterday — a professional rematch with Manny Pacquiao at the Sphere in Las Vegas, streaming globally on Netflix.

Happy birthday, champ. No one retires quite like you.

The Record Still Stands

Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on February 24, 1977. He turned professional on October 11, 1996, and retired — for what he insists was the final time — on August 26, 2017, after stopping Conor McGregor in ten rounds at T-Mobile Arena. The record: 50-0, 27 knockouts, world titles in five weight classes from super featherweight to super welterweight. No professional losses. No draws. No asterisks that hold up under scrutiny.

The financial numbers are as clean as the record. Mayweather’s career earnings are estimated at over $1.2 billion, making him the highest-paid boxer in history. The Pacquiao fight alone — May 2, 2015, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena — generated 4.6 million pay-per-view buys, a $72 million live gate, and more than $600 million in total revenue. Mayweather’s guaranteed purse was $100 million. The McGregor fight added another $275 million to the sport’s coffers, with Mayweather reportedly earning north of $275 million.

The Busiest 49-Year-Old in Boxing

Mayweather announced last week that he is coming out of retirement and returning to professional boxing, signing an exclusive deal with CSI Sports/FIGHT SPORTS. The comeback trail begins with a spring exhibition against Mike Tyson — reportedly set for April 25 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a nod to Ali-Foreman’s Rumble in the Jungle — followed by a sanctioned professional bout this summer against an opponent to be named.

Then yesterday, the biggest announcement: Mayweather and Pacquiao will meet in a professional rematch on September 19 at the Sphere in Las Vegas, streamed live globally on Netflix at no additional cost to subscribers. It will be the first professional boxing match ever held at the $2.3 billion venue. Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) and Pacquiao (62-8-3, 39 KOs) have not faced each other since 2015, when Mayweather won a clear unanimous decision.

“Floyd and I gave the world what remains the biggest fight in boxing history,” Pacquiao said in a statement reported by ESPN. “I want Floyd to live with the one loss on his professional record and always remember who gave it to him.”

Mayweather’s response was characteristically concise: “I already fought and beat Manny once. This time will be the same result.”

The event will be produced by EverWonder Studio, Hidden Empire, and Limitless X Holdings. Pacquiao Promotions and Mayweather Promotions are listed as partners alongside CSI Sports/FIGHT SPORTS. Undercard details and ticket information have not been released.

The Lawsuit

Mayweather’s birthday celebration comes three weeks after he filed a $340 million lawsuit against Showtime Networks and former Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza. The suit, filed in California and first reported by TMZ Sports, alleges that his former manager and advisor Al Haymon orchestrated a scheme of financial fraud with Showtime’s participation, diverting at least $340 million from Mayweather’s career earnings into accounts he did not control. Haymon is not named as a defendant.

Mayweather fought eight pay-per-view events under the Showtime banner, generating an estimated 15 million buys and more than $1 billion in revenue. The suit claims Showtime still owes Mayweather $20 million from the 2015 Andre Berto fight. The case echoes a pattern as old as the sport itself. A Paramount spokesperson told ESPN that the claims “lack legal or factual merit.”

What 49 Looks Like

The Mayweather who turns 49 today is not the Mayweather who beat Pacquiao at 38. He has not fought professionally in nearly nine years. His exhibition opponents since retirement — Tenshin Nasukawa, Logan Paul, John Gotti III — have ranged from mismatched to bizarre. He will be fighting a 59-year-old Tyson in an exhibition and then asking a commission to sanction a professional fight in which the 50-0 record — the defining artifact of his career — is genuinely at risk.

Whether the comeback is driven by legacy, liquidity, or the simple inability of a great competitor to walk away is a question only Mayweather can answer. The $340 million lawsuit and reported financial pressures suggest the motivation is not purely athletic. But Mayweather has always understood something about boxing that his critics have not: the business is the sport, and the sport is the business. He does not separate the two, and he never has.

At 49, Floyd Mayweather has a Tyson exhibition in the Congo, a Zambidis exhibition in Athens, a professional comeback fight TBD, a Pacquiao rematch at the Sphere on Netflix, and a nine-figure lawsuit against the network that made him the biggest pay-per-view attraction in history. It is, by any measure, the busiest year of any retired fighter’s life.

Retired might not be the right word anymore.