Biography
Considered the best defensive fighter, and by many as one of the best in the history of boxing, Floyd Mayweather was an Olympic bronze medalist and Golden Gloves champion with multiple world titles in five weight classes and an undefeated record of 50-0 over the course of a two-decade career. Born Floyd Joy Sinclair on February 24, 1977 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he hailed from a boxing family - his father and onetime trainer, Floyd Mayweather, Sr., was a welterweight contender, and uncle Roger Mayweather a welterweight and lightweight champion, while another uncle, Jeff, held the super featherweight title in the mid-1990s. Mayweather's childhood was marked by upheaval and poverty - he divided his time between his mother, who suffered from drug dependency, and his grandmother, who supported his own interest in boxing, while occasionally training with his father, who spent five years in federal prison for drug trafficking. Eventually, he dropped out of Ottawa Hills High School and focused his attention on boxing; under the tutelage of his uncle Roger, he amassed an amateur record of 84-8 and three Golden Gloves championships. In 1996, he captured the bronze in the featherweight division at the Summer Olympics, a controversial decision marred by accusations of intimidation by various judges that prompted the U.S. team to protest the ruling. That same year, Mayweather won his first professional bout with a second round knockout against Roberto Apodaca; with his father now established as his trainer, Mayweather won his first 17 fights, largely by knockout, before capturing the World Boxing Championship and lineal super featherweight titles by defeating Geraro Hernandez in 1998. The boxing media quickly pronounced him the heir to such legendary boxers as Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard, and Mayweather would support such proclamations by defending his titles eight consecutive times between 1999 and 2001, fending off such aspirants to the title as Gregoria Vargas, Diego Corrales and top-ranked lightweight Jose Luis Castillo, who Mayweather outscored, despite an injured shoulder, in 2001 and again in a 2002 rematch. In 2004, Mayweather successfully moved up to light welterweight by besting DeMarcus "Chop Chop" Corley, earning him top status in a USA Today ranking; he would batter Arturo Gatti to become the light welterweight contender in a bruising 2005 match before again moving up, this time to welterweight. His match against Zab Judah for the International Boxing Federation title was marked by controversy - Mayweather allegedly hit Judah below the belt in the tenth round, prompting a scuffle between his uncle, Roger Mayweather - who had taken over as trainer after Mayweather dismissed his father in 2000 - and Judah father and trainer. Though Mayweather was declared the winner - and his uncle fined and suspended for a year - negative press was beginning to swirl around the younger man. He was charged with two counts of domestic violence and one count of misdemeanor battery in 2002, and a one-year suspended sentence for the same charge against two women in 2004, with a 90-day suspended jail sentence landing the following year after he allegedly hit and kicked a fellow boxer. When Judah was suspended for a year, Mayweather vacated his title in 2005 and took on Carlos Baldomir, whom he defeated to win his third consecutive lineal championship in as many weight classes. The following year, he took on light-middleweight champion Oscar De La Hoya in a match that set the record for most pay-per-view buys for a single match (2.7 million households). Mayweather did not disappoint the faithful, defeating De La Hoya - who outweighed him by 10 pounds - in a split decision after 12 rounds, which earned him a $58 million purse. He soon relinquished the belt he captured from De La Hoya to fight light welterweight champion Raymond Hatton in 2007; again, Mayweather dominated the bout, leaving Hatton dazed by the time of the tenth round knockout. Mayweather immediately announced his retirement to focus on his promotional company, but returned in 2009 to face off against lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, whom he dominated in a 12-round bout before locking horns with third-ranked "Sugar" Shane Mosley in 2010. Mayweather started the fight on shaky ground, absorbing a pair of solid right hands that buckled his knees, but he rebounded to win by unanimous decision. Though he hoped to next fight middleweight champ Sergio Martinez, Mayweather signed a contract to take on eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao in 2010. The bout was immediately shrouded in controversy, with Pacquiao refusing to submit to the Olympic-style drug testing required by Mayweather's champ, resulting in the fight's cancellation; intense negotiations to revive the match failed to bring both sides to the table, and both fighters would return to their respective careers, with Mayweather surviving an ugly battle against Victor Ortiz in 2011 and a challenging brawl with Manny Cotto in 2012, but he was unable to avoid an 87-day jail term for domestic abuse charges centered around his former girlfriend, Josie Harris. After completing his sentence, Mayweather rebounded in 2013 with wins against #3 welterweight Robert Guerrero and super welterweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez before facing one of his toughest opponents, Marcos Maidana, who hit Mayweather more than any previous opponent. Mayweather won the fight by majority decision, but took their rematch - a bout billed as "Mayhem" which saw Maidana allegedly bite Mayweather on the left hand - by unanimous votes. Finally, in 2015, Mayweather faced off against Manny Pacquiao in what was projected as "the fight of the century." In terms of promotional hype and pay-per-view sales ($410 million in the U.S. alone), it certainly lived up to that sobriquet, but the bout was considered unremarkable by industry observers, with Mayweather keeping Pacquiao off his aim to win by unanimous decision. The fight also drew negative attention for Pacquiao's post-match claim that he had fought with a torn rotator cuff, which was treated with toradol, a substance banned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, while Mayweather was stripped of his welterweight championship title for holding world titles in multiple classes at the same time. In 2015, Mayweather stated that he would defend his welterweight title for the last time in a match against WBA interim champion Andre Berto. Though many felt that Mayweather would be better served by fighting against better competitors like Amir Khan and Kell Brook, the match had its challenges for the champion, who injured his hand in the ninth round but captured the win by unanimous decision. The match was his 49th consecutive win, and rumors began circulating that Mayweather would return for a 50th fight; these came to pass in 2017 when it was announced that he would face mixed martial arts champion Conor McGregor. Though heavily hyped, the fight itself was under-attended, and McGregor proved tough but undisciplined, tiring visibly in the tenth round before referees called the match in Mayweather's favor. With the win, Mayweather bested Rocky Marciano's record for the longest unbeaten streak in a professional boxing career.
