Sports

Floyd pay-maker ‘channels’ Mike

When Floyd Mayweather announced his mega-agreement with Showtime this week, it conjured memories of a similar deal the network entered into with Mike Tyson when he was released from prison in 1995.

Soon after Tyson finished serving three years at the Indiana Youth Center for a rape conviction, Showtime executives signed him to a lucrative deal orchestrated by promoter Don King. It was an unprecedented contract for at least six pay-per-view fights. Tyson reportedly received a $20 million advance, and it was believed Tyson was to earn more than $100 million over the life of the contract. King benefited by securing deals from MGM Grand for $30 million in stock options and with Showtime to televise fights featuring boxers, such as Julio Cesar Chavez and Felix Trinidad, who were under his promotional umbrella.

“I’m not sure up until that point whether Showtime had such an important announcement about its programming,” Showtime CEO Matt Blank once told me. “They’d certainly done things in the past that were interesting. But Tyson, in spite of all his problems, was a hotly contested piece of talent. It was a big deal for us to get that talent.”

It’s a huge deal for Showtime to get Mayweather, too. This week, Mayweather and Showtime announced a multi-faceted agreement that includes the unbeaten Mayweather fighting six times over a 30-month period. His first major bout will be May 4 in Las Vegas against Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero. It will be Mayweather’s first fight in a year and his first since he spent two months in jail on a domestic violence battery charge.

Showtime and its parent company, CBS, also will support Mayweather’s promotional endeavors, including tonight’s fight on Showtime featuring Cornelius “K9” Bundrage defending his IBF junior middleweight title against Ishe Smith in Detroit.

Though no specific financial details were revealed, the pact is said to be the richest in boxing.

“I am happy to be a part of this family,” Mayweather said. “It’s not just Showtime. It’s CBS, too. I have to give everyone their just due and credit. They are partners, came together and gave me a great deal and one I couldn’t refuse. I couldn’t ask for a better deal.”

Showtime execs probably hope this deal with Mayweather goes more smoothly than the one with Tyson. In the fifth fight of his deal with MGM, Tyson met Evander Holyfield in a rematch that became known as the Bite Fight. Tyson was disqualified for biting Holyfield twice in the third round. Near riots erupted in the Grand Garden Arena and in the casino afterwards. Tyson was suspended and did not fight again for 19 months.

* Mayweather’s friend and former business partner Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson has joined with Lou DiBella of DiBella Entertainment to co-promote an ESPN Friday Night Fights card on March 1 at Foxwoods. Jackson has launched his own promotional company, SMS Promotions, and partnered with Top Rank on a card last December in Las Vegas. SMS fighter Billy “The Kid” Dib (35-1, 21 KOs) defends his IBF featherweight title against unbeaten Evgeny Gradovich (15-0, 8 KOs) of Russia in the featured bout.

“When I get into new categories, I don’t like learning by making mistakes, so I usually partner with someone with experiences,” Jackson said of his partnership with DiBella. “Lou is available for me in New York City, and I look forward to putting shows on in New York.”

* NBC’s Fight Night boxing series resumes tonight at The Paramount in Huntington, L.I., where heavyweights Vyacheslav “Czar” Glazkov (14-0, 10 KOs) of the Ukraine faces Malik Scott (35-0, 12 KOs) of Philadelphia and Huntington junior welterweight Chris Algieri (14-0, 7 KOs) challenges Jose Peralta (10-1, 6 KOs) of Jersey City.

george.wills@nypost.com