Floyd Mayweather tried to bet US$400,000 just hours before fight he would beat Conor McGregor

How much is too much money?

Silly question, especially if your name is Floyd Mayweather. The boxer who makes Las Vegas his home has often shared images of how big his bets pay off on social media and, just before a fight against Conor McGregor that he said would bring him around US$300 million, he was so confident of his impending victory that he tried to get a little more action.

There’s no law preventing fighters from betting on themselves and, even at 40 and almost two years removed from his last fight, Mayweather was 49-0 going into Saturday night’s fight against an Ultimate Fight Championship star who had never before fought under the constraints that govern boxing. Seems like a pretty safe bet.

So, at around 3:30pm, Mayweather strode into the bookies at the M Resort with US$400,000 in cash and the itch to wager, according to ESPN.

With an over/under for the fight of 9.5 rounds, betting the under would have brought a payout in a fight that Mayweather won with a TKO in the 10th round. Sounds like a man with a plan, right? Unfortunately, he could not get the bet at -200 odds.

Unfortunately, a source told the network that there was a delay over concerns about the legality of a fighter betting on anything other than a straight win.

And there was also a delay when Mayweather tried to place a bet on himself to win by knockout. An impatient Mayweather – described to ESPN by an unnamed source with an expletive for “angry” – left without wagering.

As fate – or perhaps his game plan – would have it, Mayweather, who reportedly is facing a 2015 tax bill, would have won his either of his attempted bets because the fight was stopped with one minute, five seconds left in the 10th round.

Luckily, the fighter known as “Money” has friends and one of them was allowed to put down US$87,000.