| Floyd Mayweather, Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Real name | Floyd Joy Mayweather, Jr. |
| Nickname(s) | Pretty Boy Money |
| Rated at | Super Featherweight Lightweight Light Welterweight Welterweight Super Welterweight |
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) |
| Reach | 72 in (183 cm) |
| Nationality | American |
| Born | February 24, 1977 Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 42 |
| Wins | 42 |
| Wins by KO | 26 |
| Losses | 0 |
| Draws |
0 Official Site |
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Competitor for USA | ||
| Men's boxing | ||
| Bronze | 1996 Atlanta | Featherweight |
Floyd Joy Mayweather, Jr. (born Floyd Sinclair; February 24, 1977) is an American professional boxer.[1] He is a five-division world champion, where he has won seven world titles, as well as the lineal championship in three different weight classes.[2] He is a two-time The Ring "Fighter of the Year" winning the award in 1998 and 2007,[3] and also Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) "Fighter of the Year" in 2007.[4] He is undefeated as a professional boxer.
Currently, Mayweather is the WBC welterweight champion.[5] He is also rated as the best pound for pound boxer in the world by most sporting news and boxing websites, including Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Fox Sports, Yahoo! Sports and About.com.[6][7][8][9][10] On 21 December 2011, Mayweather was sentenced to serve 90 days in jail for battery.[11]
Contents |
Boxing has been a part of Mayweather's life since he was in diapers. When other children were throwing baseballs or footballs, he was throwing punches. He never seriously considered any other profession. "I think my grandmother saw my potential first," Mayweather said, smiling. "When I was young, I told her, 'I think I should get a job.' She said, 'No, just keep boxing.' "[12]
"When I was about 8 or 9, I lived in New Jersey with my mother and we were seven deep in one bedroom and sometimes we didn't have electricity", Mayweather says. "When people see what I have now, they have no idea of where I came from and how I didn't have anything growing up."
Mayweather was born in Grand Rapids, Mich., into a family of boxers. His father Floyd Mayweather Sr. was a former welterweight contender who fought Hall of Famer Sugar Ray Leonard and his uncles Jeff Mayweather and Roger Mayweather were all professional boxers, with Roger – Floyd’s current trainer – winning two world championships. Mayweather was born with his mother's last name,[13] but his last name would change to Mayweather shortly thereafter. Mayweather's father, Floyd Sr., had a side job - selling drugs. That job made him a mean taskmaster at home. His punishment of little Floyd was often harsh and brutal, according to Mayweather Jr. He says that when he was a baby, his father used him as a shield to keep his brother-in-law from shooting him.
"It depends on which side of the family you talk to," Mayweather Jr. says. "My father said he was holding me and he said, 'If you're going to shoot me, you're going to shoot the baby, too.' But my mother said he used me as a shield to keep from getting shot. "Either way, I'm just happy I didn't get shot and I'm still here."
It was nothing for young Floyd to come home from school and find used heroin needles in his front yard. His mother was also addicted to drugs and he had an aunt who died from AIDS because of her drug use. "People don't know the hell I've been through," he says.
The most time that his father spent with him was taking him to the gym to train and work on his boxing, according to Mayweather. "I don't remember him ever taking me anywhere or doing anything that a father would do with a son, going to the park or to the movies or to get ice cream", he says. "I always thought that he liked his daughter (Floyd's older stepsister) better than he liked me because she never got whippings and I got whippings all the time."
Floyd Sr. says Mayweather isn't telling the truth about their early relationship. "Even though his daddy did sell drugs, I didn't deprive my son," Floyd Sr. says. "The drugs I sold he was a part of it. He had plenty of food. He had the best clothes and I gave him money. He didn't want for anything. Anybody in Grand Rapids can tell you that I took care of my kids."[14]
Floyd Sr. says he did all of his hustling at night and spent his days with his son, taking him to the gym and training him to be a boxer. "If it wasn't for me he wouldn't be where he is today," Floyd Sr. says.
"I basically raised myself," Mayweather says. "My grandmother did what she could. When she got mad at me I'd go to my mom's house. My life was ups and downs." Floyd Sr. says he knows how much pain his incarceration caused his son, but insists he did the best he could. "I sent him to live with his grandmother," he says. "It wasn't like I left him with strangers."
Boxing became Mayweather's outlet - a way to deal with the absence of his father. Because he excelled at it, the sport gave him the affirmation that he was unable to get anywhere else. As his father served his time, Mayweather, blessed with speed and an uncanny ring sense, put all his energies into boxing. He even dropped out of high school. "I knew that I was going to have to try to take care of my mom and I made the decision that school wasn't that important at the time and I was going to have to box to earn a living," Mayweather says.[14]
Mayweather had an amateur record of 84–6[15] and won national Golden Gloves championships in 1993 (at 106 lb), 1994 (at 114 lb), and 1996 (at 125 lb).[16] He was given the nickname "Pretty Boy" by his amateur teammates because he had relatively few scars, a result of the defensive techniques that his father (Floyd Mayweather, Sr.) and uncle (Roger Mayweather) had taught him.[17] In his orthodox defensive stance, Mayweather often utilizes the 'shoulder roll'. The shoulder roll is an old-school boxing technique in which the right hand is held normally or slightly higher than normal, the left hand is down around the midsection, and the lead shoulder is raised high on the cheek in order to cover the chin and block punches. The right hand (from orthodox stance) is used as it normally would be to block punches coming from the other side, such as left hooks. From this stance, Mayweather blocks, slips, and deflects most of his opponents' punches, even when cornered, by twisting left and right to the rhythm of their punches.[18]
At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Mayweather won a bronze medal by reaching the semi-finals of the featherweight (57 kg)[19] division.
In the opening round, Mayweather led 10–1 on points over Bakhtiyar Tileganov of Kazakhstan before he won in Round 2 by referee stoppage. In the second round, Mayweather outpointed Artur Gevorgyan of Armenia 16–3. In the quarterfinals, the 19-year-old Mayweather, narrowingly defeated the 22-year-old, Lorenzo Aragon of Cuba in an all-action bout to win 12–11, becoming the first U.S boxer to defeat a Cuban in 20 years.[20] The last time this had occurred, was at 1976 Summer Olympics when the U.S Olympic boxing team, captured five gold medals, among its recipients was boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard. In his semifinal bout against the eventual silver medalist, Serafim Todorov of Bulgaria, Mayweather lost by a controversial decision similarly to the Roy Jones Jr.'s decision.[21] Referee, Hamad Hafaz Shouman of Egypt, mistakenly raised Mayweather's hand, thinking he had won, as the decision was announced giving the bout to the Bulgarian.[22]
The U.S team filed a protest over the Mayweather bout, claiming the judges were intimated by Bulgaria's Emil Jetchev, head of the boxing officials, into favoring Bulgarian Serafim Todorov by a 10-9 decision in the 125-pound semifinal bout. Three of Jetchev's countrymen were in gold medal bouts. Judge Bill Waeckerle, one of the four U.S judges working the games for the International Amateur Boxing Federation, quit both as an Olympic judge and as a federation judge after Mayweather lost a decision loudly booed by the crowd at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum.[23][24]
"I refuse to be part of an organisation that continues to conduct its officiating in this manner," Waeckerle wrote in a letter of resignation to federation President Anwar Chowdhry.[25]
In the official protest, U.S team manager Gerald Smith said Mayweather landed punches that were not counted, while Todorov was given points without landing a punch.[26] "The judging was totally incompetent," Waeckerle said. The judges failed to impose a mandatory two-point deduction against Todorov after he was warned five times by the referee for slapping.[22]
"Everybody knows Floyd Mayweather is the gold-medal favorite at 57 kilograms," Mayweather said afterward. "In America, it's known as 125 pounds. You know and I know I wasn't getting hit. They say he's the world champion. Now you all know who the real world champion is."[26]
Qualification as a Featherweight for the United States Olympic Team.
Olympic Results
Controversial decision was officially protested (unsuccessfully) by the U.S. team.
Mayweather fought his first professional bout on October 11, 1996 against fellow newcomer Roberto Apodaca who was knocked out in round 2. Mayweather's trainer at the time was his uncle, Roger Mayweather, because Floyd Mayweather, Sr. was still imprisoned after having been convicted of illegal drug trafficking in 1993. Mayweather, Sr. took over as Mayweather, Jr.'s trainer when he was released from prison (after Mayweather, Jr.'s fourteenth fight—a second-round knockout of Sam Girard).[27] From 1996 to early 1998, Mayweather won most of his fights by knockout or TKO.
Early in his pro-career, Mayweather received praise from all corners of the boxing world, and was touted as a prodigal pugilist.[28]
During Floyd Mayweather vs. Tony Duran,[29] the ESPN commentator remarked, "(IBHOF & WBHF trainer) Emmanuel Steward was quoted as saying, there have been very few who have been more talented than this kid (Mayweather), he will probably win two or three world championships, I think he will go on to be the best ever."[30]
The IBHOF trainer and commentator, Gil Clancy, commented before Floyd Mayweather engage in his 9th pro fight against Jesus Chavez, boldly declaring, "I thought that Floyd Mayweather was the outstanding pro prospect in the entire Olympic games."[31]
In 1998, within two years of entering into professional boxing, Mayweather decisively won his first world title, the WBC super featherweight (130 lb) championship, with an eighth-round technical knockout of The Ring #1 ranked Super featherweight in the world, Genaro Hernández, after the corner of the outclassed opponent stopped the fight. The 21-year-old Mayweather battered his fellow American, nearly closing both of his eyes. Hernández had never been defeated at that weight class, until then. Hernández remarked post-fight: "He defeated me, he is quick, smart and I always knew he had the speed. I give him respect. He is a true champ."[32]
With Mayweather's win, he became the Lineal Champion of the division as Genaro Hernández had previously beaten Azumah Nelson, who's dominance of the super featherweight division had prompted all boxing publications to give him, the vacant Lineal Championship.[33][34] The Ring stopped awarding belts to world champions in the 1990s, but began again in 2002,[35] Azumah Nelson had won his Lineal status in the 1990s, therefore The Ring's vacant title was not awarded to him, Hernández or Mayweather, although it was not needed as Mayweather was The Ring #1 ranked super featherweight.
Furthermore, Mayweather became the first 1996 U.S Olympian to win a world title.[36] Following his victory, Floyd Mayweather's promoter Bob Arum had the following to say: "We believe in our heart of hearts that Floyd Mayweather is the successor in a line that starts with Ray Robinson, goes to Muhammad Ali, then Sugar Ray Leonard", Bob Arum trumpets. "We believe that he epitomizes that style of fighting."[37]
After capturing the title, Mayweather defended it against top contender Angel Manfredy in dominating fashion with a TKO victory in round two, giving Manfredy his first defeat in four years.[38]
By the end of 1998, Mayweather was ranked by the The Ring as the #8 pound-for-pound best boxer in the world[39] and became one of the youngest recipients of The Ring "Fighter of the Year" award, aged only 21, the same age Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali had won their first awards.[40][41]
In 1999, Mayweather continued his domination over the super featherweight division by defending his title three more times. Mayweather's second defense of his title, was against the Argentine Carlos Rios, winning by unanimous decision. Mayweather (20-0) thoroughly dominated the fight throughout, but could not knock Rios down. Mayweather, fighting past the eight round for only the third time in his career, won on the judges' cards 120-110, 119-108, 120-109.[42]
Mayweather's third title defense was against Justin Juuko, winning by ninth round knockout. After dominating through eight rounds, Floyd Mayweather Jr. unleashed a brutal series of overhand rights that floored Justin Juuko in the ninth round. Juuko couldn't beat the count of 10 by referee Mitch Halpern and the fight was scored a knockout for Mayweather at 1 minute 20 seconds of the round.[43]
Mayweather's final title defense of 1999, was against Carlos Gerena with Mayweather winning by seventh round referee technical decision (RTD). Mayweather showed off his spectacular boxing skills for seven rounds, giving Gerena such a beating that the ringside doctor finally has to step in to save the challenger from further punishment. A fight that almost ended with two-first round knockdowns ended up going more rounds than it should have, thanks to a game Gerena and the fun Mayweather was having in the ring. Mayweather said post-fight, "I want to show the world that along with Oscar De La Hoya and Roy Jones, Jr., I'm the best fighter in the world."[44]
This dominance did not go unnoticed in the boxing world and by the end of the year, the 22-year-old Mayweather was ranked The Ring #2 pound-for-pound best boxer in the world, behind boxing great Roy Jones, Jr..[39]
Before he made the fifth successful defense of his title, against former WBC featherweight champion Gregorio Vargas in early 2000, Mayweather fired his father as his manager and replaced him with James Prince. A few months after the fight, the rift between the father and son became wide enough that Mayweather, Jr. fired Mayweather, Sr. as his trainer as well.[45] In an interview in 2004, Mayweather, Jr. said that he loves Mayweather, Sr. as his father but feels that he has better chemistry with Roger, and his father had put too much pressure on him to be perfect.[46]
The younger Mayweather, in his fifth title defense, looked as composed as ever in winning a near shutout over 'Goyo' Vargas in Las Vegas. Mayweather was in such total control that he even had time to help with the broadcast. In the 10th round, as he moved the game but severely outclassed Vargas around the ring, Mayweather overheard HBO announcer Jim Lampley say that the champ had switched to a southpaw stance for the second time in the bout Mayweather leaned ringside and said, "It was the third time."
Even after a six-month layoff, Mayweather was elusive, dazzling the crowd with his moves. Vargas had little to offer in defense except an exceedingly hard head. Against the sharpshooting Mayweather, even that wasn't enough to forestall disaster. In the sixth round Mayweather went downstairs and dropped Vargas with a hook to the ribs.[47] Mayweather cruised to a comfortable unanimous decision.
Roger Mayweather returned to his role as Mayweather, Jr.'s trainer in his next bout—a non-title Lightweight fight against Emanuel Burton. Mayweather would go on to win by technical knockout in round nine.
In one of more defining and memorable fights of Mayweather's career, Mayweather fought the hard-hitting, former IBF super featherweight champion Diego Corrales (33-0 27 KO's). Coming in to the bout, both Mayweather and Corrales were undefeated and neither fighter had touched the canvas. Mayweather was at the time, The Ring #2 ranked Super featherweight in the world and The Ring #7 pound-for-pound while Corrales was The Ring #1 ranked super featherweight in the world and The Ring #5 pound-for-pound.[39][48]
Before the fight was announced, Mayweather had stated he wanted to fight Corrales, who was facing jail time for allegedly beating up his pregnant wife. "I want Diego because I'm doing it for all the battered women across America", Mayweather said. "Just like he beat that woman, I'm going to beat him."[49]
While both fighter were of the same age, 23, Corrales had multiple physical advantages over Mayweather such two inches in height, an inch in reach and despite coming in to the official weight-in both at the 130 Lbs super featherweight limit, Carroles came to the ring, weighting unofficially 146 Lbs to Mayweather's 136½ Lbs; thereby making Carroles 9½ Lbs heavier.[50]
In the bout, Mayweather won every round and knocked down Corrales five times (three times in round 7 and twice in round 10). After the fifth knockdown, Corrales' cornermen climbed onto the apron and stopped the fight, thereby establishing Mayweather as one of the claimants to boxing's mythical pound-for-pound title. At the time of the stoppage, Mayweather was way ahead on the scorecards, leading by the official tallies of 89–79, 90–79, and 90–78.[51]
Throughout the Corrales fight, HBO commentators and analysts made noticeable comments of Mayweather, with Larry Merchant stating, "Mayweather fights in a tradition of boxing and quick handedness that goes back in Michigan, all the way to fighters like Sugar Ray Robinson."
Harold Lederman commented, saying, "Jim (Lampley), I gotta tell ya, I'm terribly impressed, I don't think I've seen an exhibition of boxing like this since Willie Pep, this kid is unbelievable, great legs, great speed, unbelievable ring-generalship. I mean he's got tremendous presence in that ring, Floyd Mayweather knows where he is, every minute of this fight..."
Mayweather's dominance and the inability of Corrales to land any effective punches was shown in the statistics compiled by Compubox. Corrales landed only 60 of 205 punches, and never landed more than nine punches in a single round. Mayweather landed 220 of 414 punches.[52] Corrales was unable to land any clean shots as he stalked Mayweather through the early rounds. He landed an average of six punches a round, according to Compubox stats - the only time that a fighter has landed in single digits in the 20 years CompuBox has been tracking punch stats.[53]
After the fight, Mayweather remarked, "I would like to fight Prince Naseem (Hamed), hopefully we can meet at 128 (Lbs) or he can come up-to 130 (Lbs), we can fight or I can fight the winner of Casamayor..." "Prince Naseem isn't going to fight you," intervened HBO commentator Larry Merchant, "after he saw this, it aint gonna happen." "I really want to fight Prince Naseem..." Mayweather continued, "but hopefully I can face the winner of Casamayor (vs) Freites."[54] Although, both fights did not materialise, Mayweather's victim, Diego Corrales, would go on to hand Freites (the winner of the Casamayor vs. Freites fight), his first professional defeat. Corrales would also go onto defeat Casamayor in a rematch of their first bout.
Afterward Arum was ecstatic about his new star. "Better than Sugar Ray Leonard", he gushed. "And did you see him at those press conferences...?"[55]
The fight was met with tremendous acclamation throughout the boxing world and sports in general. 'Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s speed was dazzling. His power was unexpected.' -CBS,[52] '... a near flawless performance...' -BBC,[56] 'Floyd Mayweather Jr., displaying blazing speed and punishing power...' -New York Daily News,[53] '... a fistic masterpiece.' -Sports Illustrated.[57]
On October 10, 2001, legendary boxing trainer Eddie Futch, died aged 90. Tim Smith of the New York Daily News, recollected an encounter with the famed trainer in an article- 'One of the last times I saw Futch was before the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Diego Corrales Junior lightweight title bout in Vegas. Futch was talking about how much he admired Mayweather's style, how Mayweather was such a beautiful boxer, able to slip along the ropes and avoid punches. Corrales said he was going to neutralize Mayweather's hand speed by hitting Mayweather on the arms.
"I guess he thinks he's going to stand there and let him hit him on the arms all night," said Futch, who correctly predicted that Mayweather would completely dismantle Corrales in a defensive masterpiece. Futch had a way of cutting to the heart of a matter. I don't know anyone in boxing who won't miss him. I don't know anyone in boxing that can take his place.'[58]
On May 26, 2001, Floyd Mayweather, fighting in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, pounded out a 12-round unanimous decision over future IBF super featherweight title holder Carlos Hernández to retain his WBC super featherweight title. Calling it "one of the toughest nights of my career," the 130-pound champion overcame injuries in both hands to improve his record to 26-0. "He is a very, very tough fighter," Mayweather said of the challenger, whose record fell to 33-3-1. "I'm disappointed in my performance." Mayweather, 24, suffered the first knockdown of his career when he hit Hernández with a left hook in round six, which caused him sufficient pain that he dropped his injured left hand to the canvas. He wasn't hit, but was given a standing eight-count by the referee.[59]
Mayweather's last fight in the super featherweight division was against future super featherweight and lightweight title holder Jesús Chávez. Jesús Chávez was the WBC's top-ranked contender[60] and came into the fight with a 31-fight winning streak. This was Mayweather's eighth defense of the WBC super featherweight title, which he had held for more than three years. He won when Chávez's corner stopped the fight after round 9. Mayweather had such difficulty making weight for this fight that he did not eat for four days before the weigh-in.[61] Jesús Chávez stated after the fight, "He's (Mayweather) the champ! And now I become his number one fan."[62]
Mayweather commented after the fight, "Although it will take some time to make the match, I want to fight Kostya Tszyu."[63] Tszyu, an Australian-based Russian, by then had established himself as the best Light welterweight in the world. Mayweather did not get a chance at fighting Tszyu, but he would go on to fight Ricky Hatton, the man who defeated Tszui and won The Ring light welterweight title.
By the end of 2001, Mayweather was still ranked The Ring #1 super featherweight in the world and was The Ring #5 pound-for-pound best boxer in the world.[64]
In his first fight as a lightweight, Floyd Mayweather Jr. took on WBC champion & The Ring #1 ranked Lightweight, José Luis Castillo. Despite both fighters weighting officially within the 135 Lb Lightweight limit, Mayweather came to the ring weighting unofficially 138½ Lbs to Castillo's 147½ Lbs; giving Castillo a 9 Lb weight advantage over Mayweather.
Mayweather defeated Castillo and won the WBC and vacant The Ring lightweight titles with a 12-round unanimous decision at the MGM Grand Garden Arena before a crowd of 6,920. With Mayweather's win, he became the first The Ring lightweight champion since Pernell Whitaker.[65]
Judges Jerry Roth and John Keane scored it 115-111, and judge Anek Hongtongkam scored it 116-111, a decision that was loudly booed by the pro-Castillo crowd. The Associated Press had Mayweather winning 115-111.[66] Also, the New York Daily News scorecard had Mayweather winning, 116-112.[67]
Castillo (45-5-1, 41 KOs) couldn't touch the speedy Mayweather in the first round, with Castillo throwing twenty-seven punches and landed only three. Although, after round one, Larry Merchant pointed-out, "Mayweather made a comment in the corner about his left shoulder. We'll see if somethings wrong with it, he seems to be rotating it, trying to keep it loose." George Foreman noticed likewise, adding, "Massage my left shoulder, he (Mayweather) said, that's not a good sign."[68]
Within the first minute, of the second round, Castillo went down on a shot by Mayweather which was ruled by the referee as a slip. Later in the fight, Harold Lederman alluded to it, saying "... By the way, that knockdown in the second round (is) extremely questionable, I thought Floyd did throw a left hook and this guy (Castillo) went down at the end of the hook but what you going to do, it's a judgement call by the referee, so it doesn't go as a 10-8 round..."[68]
Mayweather was Houdini in the ring. Castillo thought he saw him, would throw a punch and the punch would strike air. Mayweather reached into his bag of tricks often - switching to southpaw, throwing righthand leads, lead uppercuts. All of it frustrated Castillo, who kept firing punches at the end of fifth round and had to be pulled away and restrained by referee Vic Drakulich. Drakulich took a point away from Castillo for hitting on the break in the eighth round after several warnings through-out the fight. With Castillo continuously hitting on the break, this led undoubtedly to a large accumulation of his power-punches landing. Commentator, George Foreman agreed with the decision, saying, "That's what you want a referee to do," although his counterpart, Larry Merchant has an alternative view, "I think this referee has been altogether too involved in the fight. Too officious."[69] Drakulich struck again in the ninth round, this time taking a point away from Mayweather for using his elbows.
Castillo (45-5-1) was clearly the favorite of the crowd, despite Mayweather's fighting reputation. The crowd cheered loudly for the Mexican champion, chanting his name as he stalked Mayweather around the ring. Castillo had defended his Lightweight title three times before, but never against a fighter like the talented Mayweather. He pressed the fight and took it to Mayweather, but missed far more punches than he landed. It wasn't until the 11th round that Mayweather decided to stand and trade punches with Castillo, and the two went at it flat-footed in the middle of the ring for most of the round, with Mayweather seeming to get the best of it.[66]
Mayweather won the fight by using his jab effectively and by staying away from Castillo (45-5-1) much of the fight.[70] Also Mayweather, who injured his left shoulder on the last day of training, changed to a southpaw stance on several occasions to throw more right hands.
At the end of the fight, Harold Lederman had Castillo winning 115-111. ESPN's Max Kellerman disputed Lederman's dubious scoring, writing in his boxing column, the following: "Harold Lederman, the (HBO) unofficial ringside television judge, gave the third round to Castillo, which I think demonstrates that Mayweather suffers from the same scoring syndrome that afflicted Pernell Whitaker. Mayweather is so seldom hit cleanly in his face, that when a clean shot is landed against him it registers all out of proportion in the observer's mind. Meanwhile, the three clean shots Mayweather just landed against his opponent do not make the same kind of impression."[71]
Compubox statistics indicated that Castillo landed more overall punches and significantly more power shots over the course of the fight, however these statistics did not accurately reflect the judging as rounds are scored in isolation. Also, Mayweather out-scored Castillo with jabs thrown and landed. Lederman's scoring for this fight can be seen as inconsistent, for instance, in both of the Bernard Hopkins vs. Jermain Taylor fights, Lederman had Taylor winning, 115-113, despite Hopkins landing more overall punches and significantly more power shots over the course of both fights.[72][73] Jermain Taylor did throw and land more jabs.
In the post-fight interview, Mayweather said, "My last training day, I hurt my rotator cuff in my left shoulder, so I couldn’t use my jab the way I want to. My left wasn’t as strong as I wanted it to be, but I didn’t want to have no excuses, you know, like other champions, you know, when they get hurt they won’t even show up to the fight. I get hurt I keep fighting, you know, I want to bring the fans a victory."
Due to the supposed closeness of their first bout, Mayweather accepted an immediate rematch with Castillo that took place on December 7, 2002. Before the rematch, Mayweather again reiterated that he had tore his left rotator cuff two days before the first fight and couldn't throw a jab or a left hook. He had surgery following the controversial decision over Castillo and he said his shoulder had completely healed now.[74]
The smaller Mayweather was again outweighed by Castillo on the night of the fight, as Castillo weighed 147 Lbs to Mayweather's 138.[75]
In the rematch, Mayweather used his quick footwork, combinations and his jab specialty to coast to another unanimous decision victory, this time with no controversy and proving certainly that he had fought the first fight with Castillo, injured. There were no knockdowns and no notable exchanges in the fight, with Mayweather winning 115-113 on two scorecards and 116-113 on a third. The Associated Press had Mayweather winning 116-112.[75] Also HBO unofficial scorer Harold Lederman and fellow analyst Larry Merchant both had scored it 115-113 for Mayweather.[76]
On April 19, 2003, Floyd Mayweather Jr. successfully defended his WBC Lightweight title with a lively unanimous decision over Dominican Victoriano Sosa. Mayweather (30-0) fought another tactically sound 12-round bout against an aggressive challenge from Sosa (35-3-2).
Mayweather's next fight (on November 1, 2003) was in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. He fought against the WBC's #1 ranked contender, Phillip Ndou, whose record was 31–1 with 30 KOs.
During the days leading up-to the fight, Nelson Mandela had invited Ndou to his office for a pre-fight pep talk before his departure for the States, advising him to "keep Mayweather on the outside with the jab, work the body and the head will become available." The President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, also dropped a note saying he had "full confidence" Ndou would put up a performance to make all South Africans proud and that he would return home with the coveted WBC belt.
When told of his opponent's high level support, Mayweather responded by saying: "Nelson Mandela's a great man, he's big in America, but Mandela can't get in there and fight for him."[77]
In an impressive performance, Mayweather dominated N'dou before flooring him with a series of right hands in the seventh. N'dou got up on shaky legs, forcing a stoppage at 1:50. The first three rounds featured some decent exchanges, but the fourth is when the slugfest began. In that round, Mayweather was successful with a number of straight right-left hook combinations. For much of the fourth, the fighters exchanged punches in the middle of the ring without any attempt to move. In the fifth, Mayweather connected on a series of straight rights and lefts, and when Ndou wouldn't go down, Mayweather gave a little smile and then continued the barrage. At times, Mayweather, clad in black trunks outlined with fur, toyed with Ndou.[78]
By the end of 2003, Mayweather was still The Ring Lightweight Champion and was The Ring #5 pound-for-pound best boxer in the world.[64]
Mayweather, 27, making his 140-pound debut, put on a display as he clinically dissected former titlist DeMarcus "Chop Chop" Corley, knocking him down twice officially in rounds 8 & 10, scoring a lopsided decision, 119-108 (twice) and 119-107. The fight was billed as a WBC elimination bout, with the winner earning a shot at 140-pound champ Arturo Gatti.[79]
"Mayweather can flat-out fight," Corley's trainer Don Turner said. "He's like magic. He makes you move into the punches."[79] Mayweather would, after this fight, shortly ascend to #1 on the USA TODAY's pound-for-pound rankings with Middleweight Champion Bernard Hopkins at #2.[80]
On January 22, 2005, Mayweather fought against Henry Bruseles in another WBC Junior welterweight title eliminator bout. Mayweather easily outclassed Bruseles throughout the first seven rounds. In round 8, Mayweather knocked down Bruseles twice, and the fight was stopped. The win over Bruseles made Mayweather the mandatory challenger for Arturo Gatti's WBC Super Lightweight Championship.
The pay-per-view fight between Mayweather and The Ring #1 ranked contender, Arturo Gatti, occurred on June 25, 2005 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where the fans heavily supported Gatti. Before the fight, Mayweather was supremely confident. He described Gatti with terms such as "a C+ fighter", "a fake", and "a blown-up club fighter."[81] Near the end of round 1, Mayweather pushed Gatti's head down in close, Gatti broke and left himself vulnerable while Mayweather continued to land punches. Gatti turned to the referee to complain and Mayweather capitalised, sending Gatti to the canvas with more shots for what was scored a knockdown.[82] Throughout the next five rounds, the much faster Mayweather landed with nearly every big shot against Gatti, who had no offense with which he could return fire. Gatti's corner stopped the fight after round 6, giving Mayweather his third world title.
It was one of the more one-sided and impressive contests in boxing history. In the post-fight interview, Mayweather praised Gatti and claimed that his pre-fight comments "were just to sell tickets." Among many boxing experts, Mayweather's one-sided dominance over Gatti solidified his position as one of the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.[83] Compubox had Mayweather outlanding Gatti by a total of 168 to 41,[84] Gatti had landed only 10 power-punches (anything other that a jab).[85]
Mayweather's fight with Gatti would be his last in the Light welterweight division, Mayweather would leave as The Ring #1 ranked contender, with Ricky Hatton as The Ring Light welterweight Champion.
After his fight with Gatti, Mayweather would move up to the Welterweight division. On November 19, 2005, Mayweather fought a non-title bout at 147 lb (67 kg) against welterweight Sharmba Mitchell. In round 3, Mayweather knocked down Mitchell with a straight right hand to the head. In round 6, another straight right hand—this one to Mitchell's body—dropped Mitchell again and ended the fight.
On April 8, 2006, Mayweather defeated Zab Judah for the IBF welterweight title by unanimous decision. Beforehand, the fight had been jeopardized after Judah lost the WBA, WBC and The Ring welterweight titles to Carlos Manuel Baldomir on January 7, 2006, but Mayweather's and Judah's camps reworked the contract and decided that the fight would go on.[86] In the fight, Mayweather stayed calm during Judah's aggressive early rounds. Mayweather began to dominate Judah in round 5, and Judah eventually bled. Near the conclusion of the tenth round, Judah hit Mayweather with a left hand that was clearly below the belt and followed up with a right-handed rabbit punch. After referee Richard Steele called time with five seconds remaining in the round, Roger Mayweather entered the ring and approached Judah, but Steele restrained him. Judah's father and trainer, Yoel Judah, entered the ring as well. Floyd remained in the neutral corner while both Yoel and Zab scuffled with Roger (and others who had entered the ring) until police and security managed to restore order. Roger was thrown out, but the fight continued and went the scheduled 12 rounds. Mayweather won by the official scores of 116–112, 117–111, and 119–109. Compubox statistics showed Mayweather as landing 188 punches to 82 for Judah.[87]
Five days after the fight, the Nevada State Athletic Commission decided not to overturn the result of the bout, but Roger Mayweather was fined US$200,000 and suspended for one year.[88] The suspension entails that Roger can train Mayweather, Jr. in the gym but cannot work the corner during fights.[89] On April 17, 2006, the IBF ordered a rematch between Mayweather and Judah, but the NSAC suspended Judah for one year on May 8, 2006.[90] Mayweather vacated the IBF title on June 20, 2006.
After his fight against Judah, it was reported that Mayweather rejected an offer of US$8 million to fight Antonio Margarito, citing his split with promoter Bob Arum as the reason.[91] Oscar De la Hoya, however, postponed his decision until 2007, leaving Mayweather to choose his next opponent.[92] Mayweather considered moving up in weight again to fight junior middleweight champion Cory Spinks, but because of negative publicity and Spinks' impending mandatory defense of his title, he finally decided to face WBC and The Ring welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir on November 4, 2006 in Las Vegas.[93]
The bout took place on November 4, 2006. Despite having not lost in over 8 years, Baldomir was seen as a heavy underdog in the fight. Mayweather would ultimately defeat Baldomir by unanimous decision for both titles. Ringside punch statistics showed Mayweather landing 199 of 458 punches, while Baldomir landed just 79 of 670. Mayweather earned $8 million for the fight, while Baldomir was paid $1.6 million. Both were career highs in earnings for each fighter at the time.
During the fight, Baldomir chased Mayweather, unable to land any meaningful shots but trying to remain the busier fighter, while Mayweather picked away with sharp jabs and hooks, even managing to cut Baldomir over his left eye in the first round. This pattern continued throughout the fight. The defensive-minded Mayweather put on what many witnesses and Mayweather himself called a "boxing clinic" to take Baldomir's WBC and Ring welterweight titles in a lopsided 12 round decision. Two judges had Mayweather winning all 12 rounds, with the other giving all but two rounds to Mayweather. After the fight Mayweather called out for a fight with Oscar De la Hoya.
With Mayweather's win, he became the first fighter since Roberto Durán to have captured The Ring title in both the Lightweight and Welterweight divisions.[94] Mayweather also captured his third Lineal Championship in as many weight-classes (Super featherweight, Lightweight and Welterweight), following in the footsteps of such fighters as Henry Armstrong and Sugar Ray Leonard.
Mayweather's next match was the long-anticipated superfight against six-division champion and current WBC Super Welterweight titleholder Oscar De La Hoya on May 5, 2007. De La Hoya's belt was on the line, which required Mayweather to move up in weight from 147 pounds to 154. However, Mayweather was outweight by more than 10 pounds on the night of the fight, coming in at only 150 pounds. Despite De La Hoya's insistence that money was not a factor, the Mayweather-De La Hoya bout set the record for most PPV buys for a boxing match with 2.7 million households, shattering the record of 1.95 million for Evander Holyfield-Mike Tyson II. Around $120 million in revenue was generated by the PPV, which set another record. With the percentages factored in, Oscar De La Hoya ended up earning $58 million for the bout, the highest purse ever for a fighter. The previous record was $35 million, held by Tyson and Holyfield. Floyd Mayweather earned about $25 million for the fight.[95]
At one time, Floyd Mayweather, Sr., Mayweather, Jr.'s father, was in talks to train Oscar De La Hoya and be in his corner during the fight but he decided to train with Freddie Roach. Mayweather won the fight by split decision in 12 rounds, capturing the World Boxing Council (WBC) title. However, many analysts and ringside observers felt Mayweather should have won the clear unanimous decision. In the early rounds, De La Hoya had some success cutting off the ring, attempting to pound Mayweather on the inside. Despite being very active on the inside, many of De La Hoya's punches were ineffective and landed on Mayweathers arms or shoulders. By the middle of the fight, it was seen as an even bout by the announcers. However, Mayweather turned the tide in the middle and late rounds, often hitting De La Hoya at will. Official scorecards read 116-112, 115-113 (Mayweather), and 115-113 (De La Hoya). Compubox had Mayweather out landing De La Hoya 207 to 122 in total punches and 134 to 82 in power punches, as well as having better accuracy in the entire fight. After the bout, Mayweather contemplated retirement, saying he had nothing left to prove in the boxing world.
After his fight with De La Hoya, Mayweather decided to relinquish his WBC junior middleweight championship[96] and kept his WBC welterweight championship. On July 28, 2007, it was announced that Mayweather would come out of his short retirement to fight The Ring Light welterweight Champion, Ricky Hatton which was promoted by Oscar De La Hoya's promotion company Golden Boy Promotions and Floyd Mayweather's "Mayweather Promotions." The bout was labelled "Undefeated" and took place on December 8, 2007, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, in a fight which was the biggest welterweight showdown of two undefeated fighters since Oscar De La Hoya and Félix Trinidad met in their 1999 superfight. In the build up to their fight, Mayweather claimed that he was the greatest boxer ever, saying: "I respect what Robinson and Ali did for the sport. But I am the greatest, and this is my time.
Mayweather controlled the fight from the start and knocked Hatton out in the 10th round to retain the welterweight championship.[97] Hatton suffered a cut over his right eye in round three from the punches of Mayweather, and it seemed that it was at this point that his pace and movement began to slow. In round six Hatton lost a point for punching the back of Floyd's head as he was caught draped on the ropes. Mayweather had a huge eighth round, landing a number of clean, effective power shots.
In the 10th round Hatton was caught with a check left hook thrown from Mayweather's hip, and as a result he fell forward head first into the turnbuckle and hit the deck. Hatton managed to make it to his feet, but was clearly dazed. Two more big lefts in a flurry put Ricky down again and Cortez stopped it at 1:35 of round 10.[98] Official scorecards read 88-82, 89-81, and 89-81, at the time of stoppage, all in favor of Mayweather.
After the fight, Mayweather said that Hatton was one of the toughest fighters he had ever fought, that he just kept coming and coming, and that he wants to promote fights, with Hatton being his first client. Mayweather announced his retirement from boxing to concentrate on his promotional company.[99]
On May 2, 2009, it was confirmed that Mayweather was coming out of a 21-month retirement to fight The Ring Lightweight Champion & The Ring #2 pound-for-pound best boxer in the world, Juan Manuel Márquez at a catchweight of 144 lb on July 18 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on HBO PPV.[100] At the time, Marquez was the number 2 rated pound for pound boxer in the world. The fight was postponed due to a rib injury Mayweather received during training. HBO's reality series 24/7 was also postponed to start on August 29. The fight took place on September 19, 2009 in conjunction with Mexican Independence Day, traditionally a big boxing weekend. During the official weigh in for their 144 lb bout, Mayweather failed to meet the required limit by weighing in at 146 lb, two pounds heavier than Marquez. He was subsequently fined as a result.[101] However it was later revealed that the contract was changed so that Mayweather could make weight within the welterweight limit of 140–147 lb as long as Marquez received a large guaranteed sum of money.[102] Mayweather won a unanimous decision after 12 rounds in one of the most statistically lop sided fights between 2 world class opponents. Scorecards read 120-107, 119-108, and 118-109, all in favor of Mayweather. Marquez only managed to land 12% of his total 583 punches while Mayweather landed 59% of 490 total punches.[103] This fight marks only the fifth time in boxing history that a non-heavyweight fight sold more than 1 million pay-per-views, with the official HBO numbers coming in at over 1 million buys equalling a total of approximately $52 million. Four of those fights all featured Oscar De La Hoya as the main event, making this fight the one of two events where a non-heavyweight fight sold over 1 million PPVs without Oscar De La Hoya. The other fight was Manny Pacquiao versus Miguel Cotto which sold 1.25 million PPVs.[104]
Negotiations for a proposed matchup between Mayweather and The Ring #3 pound-for-pound best boxer in the world, Shane Mosley immediately began after Andre Berto pulled out of his scheduled January 30 unification bout with the latter, due to the 2010 Haiti earthquake.[105] Both sides eventually agreed to fight on May 1, 2010 for Mosley's WBA "Super" welterweight title. It was later revealed that Floyd Mayweather refused to pay sanctioning fees required by WBA, Mayweather said "all belts do is collect dust". However, the belt was only on the line for Mosley to defend against Mayweather.[106] Both Mayweather and Mosley agreed to Olympic-style testing for this bout.[107][108] Mosley started the fight well, landing two solid right hands in Round 2 which caused Mayweather's knees to buckle. Mayweather recovered well, and went on to dominate the remainder of the fight, soundly outboxing Mosley and showing more aggression than in his recent fights. Mayweather eventually won a unanimous decision, with the judges scoring the fight 119–109, 119–109, and 118–110. In round 4, Compubox picked up Mosley throwing seven power punches without landing any, making Mayweather the second boxer after Roy Jones Jr. to go an entire round without being hit by a power punch. After the fight, the president of Golden Boy Promotions, Oscar De La Hoya, stated that he believes Mayweather is the best in the game right now.[109]
The fight was the second highest selling non heavyweight pay-per-view bout in the history of boxing, with 1.4 million buys. HBO officially released that the fight generated $78.3 million in revenue. After the fight Mayweather expressed interest in moving up in weight to capture a world title in six different weight classes and to challenge newly crowned middleweight champion Sergio Martinez.[110]
Seven-division world champion Manny Pacquiao had reportedly agreed to fight Mayweather on March 13, 2010 for a split of $50 million which the promoters of both camp already agreed.[111] However, the fight was called off due to disagreements about Olympic style drug tests. Floyd Mayweather's camp wanted blood tests by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which will conduct the tests anytime from training up to the fight date.[112] However the Pacquiao camp refused to provide these samples, only willing to allow blood to be taken from Pacquiao if the test were scheduled. On the other hand, Pacquiao's coach, Freddie Roach, has commented that he would allow a blood sample to be taken from Pacquiao if there was a cut-off date for the blood testing or at least one week before the fight. In an attempt to resolve their differences, the two camps went through a process of mediation before a retired judge. After the mediation process Mayweather agreed to a 14-day no blood testing window. However, Pacquiao refused and instead only agreed to a 24-day no blood testing window.[113] Consequently, on January 7, 2010, Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum declared that the fight was officially off and that he has offered the chance to fight Pacquiao instead to Joshua Clottey, while Mayweather accepted the offer to fight Shane Mosley.[114]
It was also reported that Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer and Top Rank Chief Bob Arum were trying to work out the failed negotiation for a fight between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather has asked Pacquiao to undergo random blood and urine testing up until the fight day. Pacquiao finally than agreed to give blood up until 14 days before the fight, which is closer to the fight day than the 18-day cut-off in Mayweather's previous bout against Mosley. Pacquiao said that giving blood too close to the fight day will weaken him, and also stating that he has a fear of needles, despite having tattoo's on his body. On June 12, 2010, the President of Golden Boy Promotions, Oscar De La Hoya, stated during an interview with a Spanish network that the deal for the fight was very close and the negotiation process has been very difficult.[115] On June 30, 2010, Arum announced that the management of both sides had agreed to terms, that all points had been settled (including Pacquiao agreeing to submit to both blood and urine testing) and only the signature of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. was needed to seal the deal that could have earned both fighters at least $40 million each. Arum also announced that Pacquiao accepted the terms of the random drug testing, blood and urine, leading up to the fight.[116] Mayweather was then given a two-week deadline for the fight contract to be signed.[117]
On July 15, 2010, Mayweather was given until Friday midnight to sign the fight. The next day the Top Rank website embedded a countdown clock on their website with the heading "Money" Time: Mayweather's Decision.[118] On July 17, 2010, Arum announced that there was no word from Mayweather's camp and the deal for a November 13, 2010 fight with Mayweather was not reached.
On July 19, 2010, after waiting for Mayweather's response, Leonard Ellerbe, one of Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s closest advisers, denied that negotiations for a super fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao had ever taken place. Ellerbe stated that Bob Arum was not telling the truth, and that Pacquiao never once agreed to testing up until the fight.[119] Bob Arum later criticized Oscar De La Hoya and his Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer for denying that negotiations took place, when De La Hoya himself had previously stated that they were "very, very close in finalizing the contracts".[120] Arum revealed that HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg acted as the mediator between Mayweather’s handlers and those of Pacquiao’s from Top Rank Promotions.[121] On July 26, 2010, Ross Greenburg said in a statement that he has been negotiating with a representative from each side since May 2, 2010, carefully trying to put the fight together and he did in fact act as a go-between in negotiations with the two sides, but they were unable to come to an agreement at all, contradicting what Arum and Top Rank had previously said.[122][123] Floyd Mayweather Jr., after the second negotiation had been officially declared off, told the Associated Press that he had fought sixty days ago, and that he was in no rush to fight Pacquiao and was not really thinking about boxing at the moment.[124] Almost a year later, on July 8, 2011, Manny Pacquiao's top adviser Michael Koncz confirmed that Pacquiao had in fact never agreed to testing up until fight day, which contradicted what Bob Arum and the Pacquiao camp had been saying for well over a year.[125]
On June 7, 2011, Mayweather announced via Twitter that he was set to fight WBC Welterweight Champion & The Ring #2 ranked Welterweight, Victor Ortiz on September 17, 2011. Ortiz was Mayweather's first challenger in 16 months.[126]
The fight took place at MGM Grand Garden Arena. From round one, Mayweather used his speed, skills and accurate right hand to tag Ortiz repeatedly. Mayweather seemed in control through the first three rounds (judges scores: 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 for Mayweather), but in the fourth round, Ortiz found some success, landing a few shots and stinging Mayweather before bulling him into the corner. Then Ortiz rammed Mayweather in the face with an intentional headbutt, busting open a cut on the inside and outside of Mayweather's mouth. Referee, Joe Cortez, immediately called timeout and docked Ortiz a point for the blatant foul. Ortiz, seemingly acknowledging his wrongdoing, hugged Mayweather in the corner and even appeared to kiss him.
Cortez motioned the fighters back together to resume the fight, albeit unauthoritatively and without putting them in a neutral corner. Both fighters touched gloves and Ortiz gave Mayweather another hug. At this point, it was noted that Cortez, the referee, was not looking at the fighters. As Ortiz let go, Mayweather took advantage of Ortiz not having his hands up and unloaded a left hook that wobbled Ortiz. Ortiz then looked at the referee and Mayweather connected with a flush right hand to Ortiz's face. Ortiz dropped and was unable to beat Cortez's count as the crowd of 14,687 — clearly an Ortiz house — jeered Mayweather. Although Mayweather's controversial victory was generally accepted as legal, it was also labelled as a sucker punch and unsportsmanlike.[127][128][129]
After the fight, Ortiz claimed that he was merely obeying the referee's instructions while he was 'blindsided' by Mayweather, while Mayweather defended his actions by saying that "in the ring, you have to protect yourself at all times".[130]
Mayweather vs. Victor Ortiz generated buys from 1.25 million homes with a value of $78,440,000 in pay-per-view revenue. These numbers make the event the second highest grossing non-heavyweight pay-per-view event of all time. Mayweather has now appeared in the three biggest non-heavyweight pay-per-view events in the sport’s history, including Mayweather vs. Oscar De La Hoya ($136,853,700), Mayweather vs. Ortiz ($78,440,000 million) and Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley ($78,330,000 million).[131]
Mayweather also became the first man to fight three consecutive times on pay-per-view and break 1 million domestic buys each time.[132]
Floyd Mayweather's adviser, Leonard Ellerbe, announced on November 2, 2011, that Mayweather will be returning to the ring on May 5, 2012, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
| 42 Wins (26 knockouts, 16 decisions), 0 Losses, 0 Draws[133] | |||||||
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Type | Rd., Time | Date | Location | Notes |
| N/A | N/A | ? (12) | 2012-05-05 | MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada | |||
| Win | 42–0 | Victor Ortiz | KO | 4 (12), 2:59 | 2011-09-17 | MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada | Won WBC Welterweight title. |
| Win | 41–0 | Shane Mosley | UD | 12 | 2010-05-01 | MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada | WBA (Super) Welterweight title on the line for Mosley only. Mayweather refused to pay WBA sanctioning fees. |
| Win | 40–0 | Juan Manuel Márquez | UD | 12 | 2009-09-19 | MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada | A non-title welterweight bout. |
| Win | 39–0 | Ricky Hatton | TKO | 10 (12), 1:35 | 2007-12-08 | MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada | Retained WBC & The Ring Welterweight titles. |
| Win | 38–0 | Oscar De La Hoya | SD | 12 | 2007-05-05 | MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada | Won WBC Super Welterweight title. |
| Win | 37–0 | Carlos Baldomir | UD | 12 | 2006-11-04 | Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada | Won WBC & The Ring Welterweight titles. |
| Win | 36–0 | Zab Judah | UD | 12 | 2006-04-08 | Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada | Won IBF Welterweight title. |
| Win | 35–0 | Sharmba Mitchell | TKO | 6 (12), 2:06 | 2005-11-19 | Rose Garden, Portland, Oregon | A non-title welterweight bout. |
| Win | 34–0 | Arturo Gatti | RTD | 6 (12), 3:00 | 2005-06-25 | Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey | Won WBC Super Lightweight title. |
| Win | 33–0 | Henry Bruseles | TKO | 8 (12), 2:55 | 2005-01-22 | American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida | WBC Super Lightweight Title Eliminator. |
| Win | 32–0 | DeMarcus Corley | UD | 12 | 2004-05-22 | Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey | WBC Super Lightweight Title Eliminator. |
| Win | 31–0 | Phillip N'dou | TKO | 7 (12), 1:08 | 2003-11-01 | Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan | Retained WBC & The Ring Lightweight titles. |
| Win | 30–0 | Victoriano Sosa | UD | 12 | 2003-04-19 | Selland Arena, Fresno, California | Retained WBC & The Ring Lightweight titles. |
| Win | 29–0 | José Luis Castillo | UD | 12 | 2002-12-07 | Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada | Retained WBC & The Ring Lightweight titles. |
| Win | 28–0 | José Luis Castillo | UD | 12 | 2002-04-20 | MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada | Won WBC & vacant The Ring Lightweight titles. |
| Win | 27–0 | Jesús Chávez | RTD | 9 (12), 3:00 | 2001-11-10 | Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, California | Retained Lineal & WBC Super Featherweight titles. |
| Win | 26–0 | Carlos Hernández | UD | 12 | 2001-05-26 | Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan | Retained Lineal & WBC Super Featherweight titles. |
| Win | 25–0 | Diego Corrales | TKO | 10 (12), 2:19 | 2001-01-20 | MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada | Retained Lineal & WBC Super Featherweight titles. |
| Win | 24–0 | Emanuel Augustus | TKO | 9 (10), 1:06 | 2000-10-21 | Cobo Center, Detroit, Michigan | A non-title lightweight bout. |
| Win | 23–0 | Gregorio Vargas | UD | 12 | 2000-03-18 | MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada | Retained Lineal & WBC Super Featherweight titles. |
| Win | 22–0 | Carlos Gerena | RTD | 7 (12), 3:00 | 1999-09-11 | Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada | Retained Lineal & WBC Super Featherweight titles. |
| Win | 21–0 | Justin Juuko | KO | 9 (12), 1:20 | 1999-05-22 | Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada | Retained Lineal & WBC Super Featherweight titles. |
| Win | 20–0 | Carlos Rios | UD | 12 | 1999-02-17 | Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan | Retained Lineal & WBC Super Featherweight titles. |
| Win | 19–0 | Angel Manfredy | TKO | 2 (12), 2:47 | 1998-12-19 | Miccosukee Indian Reservation, Miami, Florida | Retained Lineal & WBC Super Featherweight titles. |
| Win | 18–0 | Genaro Hernández | RTD | 8 (12), 3:00 | 1998-10-03 | Las Vegas Hilton, Las Vegas, Nevada | Won Lineal & WBC Super Featherweight titles. |
| Win | 17–0 | Tony Pep | UD | 10 | 1998-06-14 | Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City, New Jersey | |
| Win | 16–0 | Gustavo Cuello | UD | 10 | 1998-04-18 | Grand Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California | |
| Win | 15–0 | Miguel Melo | TKO | 3 (10), 2:30 | 1998-03-23 | Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, Connecticut | |
| Win | 14–0 | Sam Girard | TKO | 2 (10), 2:47 | 1998-02-28 | Bally's Atlantic City, Atlantic City, New Jersey | |
| Win | 13–0 | Hector Arroyo | TKO | 5 (10), 1:21 | 1998-01-09 | Grand Casino Biloxi, Biloxi, Mississippi | |
| Win | 12–0 | Angelo Nuñez | TKO | 3 (8), 2:42 | 1997-11-20 | Grand Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California | |
| Win | 11–0 | Felipe Garcia | KO | 6 (8), 2:56 | 1997-10-14 | Qwest Arena, Boise, Idaho | |
| Win | 10–0 | Louie Leija | TKO | 2 (10), 2:33 | 1997-09-06 | El Paso County Coliseum, El Paso, Texas | |
| Win | 9–0 | Jesús Chávez | TKO | 5 (6), 2:02 | 1997-07-12 | Grand Casino Biloxi, Biloxi, Mississippi | |
| Win | 8–0 | Larry O'Shields | UD | 6 | 1997-06-14 | Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas | |
| Win | 7–0 | Tony Duran | TKO | 1 (6), 1:12 | 1997-05-09 | Orleans Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada | |
| Win | 6–0 | Bobby Giepert | KO | 1 (6), 1:30 | 1997-04-12 | Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada | |
| Win | 5–0 | Kino Rodriguez | TKO | 1 (6), 1:44 | 1997-03-12 | DeltaPlex Arena, Walker, Michigan | |
| Win | 4–0 | Edgar Ayala | TKO | 2 (4), 1:39 | 1997-02-01 | Swiss Park Hall, Chula Vista, California | |
| Win | 3–0 | Jerry Cooper | TKO | 1 (4), 1:39 | 1997-01-18 | Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada | |
| Win | 2–0 | Reggie Sanders | UD | 4 | 1996-11-30 | Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, New Mexico | |
| Win | 1–0 | Roberto Apodaca | TKO | 2 (4), 0:37 | 1996-10-11 | Texas Station, Las Vegas, Nevada | Mayweather's professional debut. |
Mayweather appeared at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s No Way Out pay-per-view on February 17, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was involved in a storyline physical altercation with The Big Show, after Mayweather jumped a security barricade and attacked him with a punching combination, in an attempt to help Rey Mysterio, whom Show threatened to chokeslam. Originally, Mayweather took on a babyface role in the storylines, though met with some reluctance from the fans.[134] The attack resulted in Big Show receiving an actual broken nose, reportedly not part of the storyline. The following night on Raw, Big Show challenged Mayweather to a one on one No Disqualification match at WrestleMania XXIV, which Mayweather accepted. At WrestleMania, Mayweather defeated Big Show by knockout using brass knuckles to maintain his unbeaten record.[135] Mayweather claimed that he was paid $20,000,000 USD for the fight, but WWE's financial statements do not show the number.
Mayweather was the guest host for WWE Raw in Las Vegas on August 24, 2009. He interfered with a tag team match that resulted in a loss for the Big Show (now heel again) and his partner Chris Jericho as Mayweather gave Montel Vontavious Porter brass knuckles to use to knock Jericho out, giving Porter and his new tag team partner Mark Henry the win and a shot at the Unified WWE Tag Team Titles at WWE Breaking Point against Big Show and Jericho. He then celebrated with Henry and Porter, thus turning face. Later on in the night he was involved in a backstage segment with Mr. McMahon, D-Generation X, and Carlito where he helped Mr. McMahon get ready for his 6 Man Tag Team Match against Legacy along with DX. During the segment, McMahon knocked out Carlito.
Mayweather appeared on the fifth season of Dancing with the Stars. His partner was the famous Ukrainian American born professional ballroom dancer Karina Smirnoff. On October 16, 2007, Karina and Floyd were the fourth couple to be eliminated from the competition and came in 9th place.[136]
In 2002 Mayweather was charged with two counts of domestic violence and one count of misdemeanor battery. He received a 6 month suspended sentence, 2 days of house arrest and was ordered to perform 48 hours of community service.[137] In 2004 he was given a one year suspended jail sentence, ordered to undergo counseling for "impulse control" and pay a $1000 fine or perform 100 hours of community service after being convicted of two counts of misdemeanor battery against two women.[138] In 2005 Mayweather pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor assault charge after kicking a bouncer and received a 90 day suspended jail sentence.[139]
On September 9, 2010, it was reported that Mayweather was being sought by police for questioning after his former girlfriend, Josie Harris, filed a domestic battery report against him. Harris has accused Mayweather of battery in the past, but those charges were later dropped in July 2005 after Harris testified that she had lied and that Mayweather had not, in fact, assaulted her.[140] Mayweather was taken into custody on September 10, 2010, but was released after posting $3000 bail. Initially, Mayweather was charged with felony theft stemming from the disappearance of Harris's iPhone, but on September 16, 2010, two felony coercion charges and one felony robbery charge were added to the case, along with one misdemeanor domestic battery charge and three misdemeanor harassment charges.
On December 21, 2011, a judge sentenced Mayweather to serve 90 days in the county jail for battery upon his ex-girlfriend in September 2010. Mayweather reached a deal with prosecutors in which he pled guilty to misdemeanor battery in exchange for prosecutors dropping the felony battery charge. Mayweather also pled no contest to two counts of misdemeanor harrasment which stemmed from Mayweather threatening to beat his kids. In addition to the sentence of 90 days in the county jail, Mayweather was ordered to complete 100 hours community service, a 12-month domestic violence program, and pay a fine of $2,500.[141]
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Evander Holyfield |
The Ring Fighter of the Year 1998 |
Succeeded by Paulie Ayala |
| Preceded by Manny Pacquiao |
The Ring Fighter of the Year 2007 |
Succeeded by Manny Pacquiao |
| Preceded by Manny Pacquiao |
BWAA Fighter of the Year 2007 |
Succeeded by Manny Pacquiao |
| Preceded by Oscar de La Hoya |
Best Fighter ESPY Award 2007, 2008 |
Succeeded by Manny Pacquiao |
| Preceded by Manny Pacquiao |
Best Fighter ESPY Award 2010 |
Succeeded by Manny Pacquiao |
| Sporting positions | ||
| Preceded by Genaro Hernández |
WBC World Super Featherweight Champion October 3, 1998 – April 20, 2002 Vacated |
Vacant
Title next held by
Sirimongkol Singwangcha |
| Lineal World Super Featherweight Champion October 3, 1998 – April 20, 2002 Vacated |
Vacant
Title next held by
Manny Pacquiao |
|
| Preceded by José Luis Castillo |
WBC World Lightweight Champion April 20, 2002 – May 22, 2004 Vacated |
Vacant
Title next held by
José Luis Castillo |
| Vacant
Title last held by
Pernell Whitaker |
The Ring World Lightweight Champion April 20, 2002 – May 22, 2004 Vacated |
|
| Preceded by Arturo Gatti |
WBC World Super Lightweight Champion June 25, 2005 – March 23, 2006 Vacated |
Vacant
Title next held by
Junior Witter |
| Preceded by Zab Judah |
IBF World Welterweight Champion April 8, 2006 – June 20, 2006 Vacated |
Vacant
Title next held by
Kermit Cintron |
| Preceded by Carlos Manuel Baldomir |
WBC World Welterweight Champion November 4, 2006 – June 7, 2008 Retired |
Vacant
Title next held by
Andre Berto |
| The Ring World Welterweight Champion November 4, 2006 – June 7, 2008 Retired |
Vacant | |
| Preceded by Oscar De La Hoya |
WBC World Super Welterweight Champion May 6, 2007 – July 4, 2007 Status Changed: Emeritus champion |
Vacant
Title next held by
Vernon Forrest |
| Preceded by Victor Ortiz |
WBC World Welterweight Champion September 17, 2011 – present |
Incumbent |
| Olympic Games | ||
| Preceded by Julian Wheeler |
1996 Atlanta Olympics Bronze medalist Summer 1996 |
Succeeded by Ricardo Juarez |
|
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