Floyd “Money” Mayweather, greatest of all time? Top five? Top Ten? A lot of people criticize him for many things, such as his attitude towards women, ability to not being able to read, his relationship with his father and his overall attitude. But one thing you can’t deny is Money Mayweather’s presence in the boxing ring.
Born Floyd Joy Sinclair, in February 24, 1977 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was born into a family of boxers with his father Floyd Sr. , a former welterweight contender, his uncles Jeff and Roger Mayweather with Roger winning two world championships. Roger was also Floyd Jr.’s former trainer. Floyd Jr. would shortly adopt his father’s last name, since being born with his mother’s name. He began boxing at a young age and credits his grandmother for being the one who recognized his talents first who told him, “No, just keep boxing.” When he told her he should get a job. Growing up living with his mother in New Jersey about eight or nine years old, they stayed in an one bedroom apartment but was seven deep. They would sometimes go without electricity. His life with his father has two stories with his father claiming despite his drug dealing, he kept a good relationship with his son and would take him to the gym to train all the time while Floyd Jr. recalls not having a good relationship with his father except going to the gym to train. He would later dropout of high school saying he didn’t think school was important at the time and decided to box to make money for his mother.
He would go amateur boxing where his record was 84-6 and won national Golden Gloves championships in 93, 94 and 96 and was nicknamed Pretty Boy by his teammates due to having few scars. His defensive techniques learned from his father and uncle is a big major part of Floyd’s style. Fighting Orthodox, he would leave his left hand at his midsection with his leading shoulder raised covering his chin where he can utilize different shoulder rolls, blocks and deflects by twisting left and right to the rhythm of his opponents punches.
The boxer’s first professional fight would come in October of 96 against Roberto Apodaca. Floyd would put him down in the second round. Within his first two years the majority of his fights where won by knockouts or TKO’s. Emmanuel Steward an was quoted by an ESPN commentator during Floyd’s fight with Tony Duran saying; "Emmanuel Steward was quoted as saying there have been very few who have been more talented than this kid. He will probably win two or three world championships; I think he will go on to be the best ever". In just two years from his first bout he won his first world championship in the super featherweight against Genaro Hernandez with a eighth round TKO. Hernandez’s cornerman threw in the towel. That same here he won The Ring’s Fighter of The Year award at the age of 21 as well was rank #8 pound-for-pound best boxer of the world. At 21, he was the same age as both Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson when they won their awards.
Mayweather’s most memorable fight would come against Diego Corrales two years later. Both fighters were undefeated and while Corrales was The Ring’s #1 ranked fighter, Floyd was the #2. Floyd was even quoted saying in the aftermath of Corrales assaulting and beating his pregnant wife, “Just like he beat that woman, I’m going to beat him.” Floyd would go on and win in the 10th round where Corrales’ cornermen throws in the towel after Diego was knocked down five times in the fight. Floyd won every round, establishing himself right to the pound for pound title.
He would move up to Lightweight defeating Castillo twice, Light welterweight and then to the Welterweight division. He would defeat Zab Judah for the IBF Welterweight title in an unanimous decision. Zab had landed a punch below the belt following with a rabbit punch causing the ref to call for a timeout and a scuffle between each corner taking place in the ring. Zab being suspended later would cancel all hopes for a rematch. In 2007, Floyd would move up to Light middleweight and fight Oscar De La Hoya which at the time was a long anticipated match with De La Hoya’s title on the line. The fight broke Pay Per View records with about $120 million in revenue. Floyd would win in a split decision even though many analysts viewed as an unanimous decision in Floyd’s favor due to De La Hoya efforts in cutting Mayweather off in the early rounds but failing to actually hit him effectively.
From 2002 to 2010, Floyd has seen his fair share of domestic violence charges and allegations from numerous women, one including ex-girlfriend Josie Harris which was later dropped where she testified saying she lied. He was later hit with two felony charges, felony robbery charge and a misdemeanor domestic-battery charge and three misdemeanor harassment charges. In 2011 he pled guilty to the misdemeanor battery and no contest to the harassment charges in a plea deal to drop the felony battery charges.
In 2009 rumors and negotiations for a fight with Manny Pacquiao started but due to many disagreements, rather by design to build up anticipation or not, it would be for another six years before the two top fighters of today would step foot in the ring. Pacquiao would only land 19% of his punches and would later state he had injured his rotator cup and was unable to fight with the use of two hands. Floyd would win by unanimous decision. There has been a lot of talk and debate following the fight as many argued saying the fight was “boring” or Floyd “ran from Manny Pacquiao” and how Floyd is not the greatest fighter ever. With the rise of UFC fighting, many viewers and fans have grown accustomed to watching these types of brutal fights thinking and believing it should translate over into boxing. While a different story, many viewers go in thinking there will be a knockout which in boxing is rarely the case. Floyd throughout his career from time to time again, made a point to outscore his opponent by landing more jabs and hits and making his opponent miss. Currently Floyd is undefeated sitting at a record of 48 and 0 sitting at #2 behind Rocky Marciano who holds the record at 49 and 0. Floyd was also stripped of the WBO Welterweight champion title on July 6th for not being able to hold two titles in multiple different weight classes and since he holds two in the junior middleweight divisions he was ordered to vacate the other two titles which he choose not to do.
Many people want to knock Floyd “Money” Mayweather due to many reasons, his attitude, his behavior out of the ring or just because we can’t see no one being better than Ali, but standing at 48 and 0 you can’t deny that Floyd Mayweather doesn’t belong amongst the greats if not the greatest. He perfected his craft and on numerous occasions, made great boxers look average, frustrating them in the ring due to them not being able to hit their opponent. Floyd brings style and grace when he enters the ring, and he may not be the most exciting boxer to watch if you’re expecting to be entertained but his skills and work ethics alone are enough to call him the greatest of our time.
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