Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (born February 24, 1977, Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.) American boxer whose combination of speed, power, and technical prowess made him one of the best pound-for-pound fighters of all time.

(Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.)

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Mayweather earned the nickname “Pretty Boy” during his amateur career because of his unmarked face. He won the national Golden Gloves in 1993, 1994, and 1996 but ended his amateur career on a sour note at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, where he lost a controversial decision to Serafim Todorov of Bulgaria in the semifinals and had to settle for a bronze medal in the featherweight division. He turned pro on October 11, 1996, scoring a second-round knockout of American Roberto Apodaca. Despite a bitter feud between his two trainers—his father, former boxer Floyd Mayweather, Sr., and his uncle Roger Mayweather, a former holder of the World Boxing Council (WBC) super featherweight (junior lightweight) and super lightweight (junior welterweight) titles—Mayweather flourished, winning the WBC junior lightweight title on October 3, 1998, in his 18th bout by stopping veteran American titleholder Genaro Hernandez in the eighth round. Mayweather also won Ring magazine’s Fighter of the Year award in 1998.

Mayweather moved up in weight four times, capturing Ring magazine and WBC lightweight titles in 2001, the WBC super lightweight (junior welterweight) title in 2005, (defeating Arturo Gatti), and Ring magazine and WBC welterweight titles in 2006. At the beginning of 2007, he was already widely considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, remaining undefeated in 38 professional bouts (24 by knockout). However, it was not until he defeated fellow American Oscar De La Hoya for the WBC super welterweight (junior middleweight) title that Mayweather gained mainstream recognition. More than the fight itself, it was the four-part documentary 24/7, which was broadcast on HBO cable television during the buildup to the fight, that boosted Mayweather’s profile. He emerged as a riveting character with an ego as large as his talent and a proclivity for being alternatively obnoxious and charming. Mayweather’s fight against De La Hoya was an enormous financial success, smashing existing pay-per-view and live-gate records. He returned to the ring in December 2007 and scored a 10th-round knockout against Britain’s previously undefeated Ricky Hatton in Las Vegas. The bout attracted another capacity crowd and, together with his victory over De La Hoya, earned Mayweather Ring magazine’s Fighter of the Year award for that year.

In June 2008, just months before a scheduled rematch with De La Hoya, Mayweather announced his retirement from boxing. While most observers assumed that the “retirement” would be temporary, some 18 months passed between Mayweather’s fight with Hatton and his return to the ring in September 2009 against Juan Manuel Márquez, a natural lightweight and crowd favourite who moved up two divisions to accept the bout. Although Márquez showed great fortitude, the judges awarded Mayweather a unanimous decision after 12 rounds.

Much excitement and more than a little gamesmanship attended the buildup to Mayweather’s next scheduled fight, against Filipino sensation Manny Pacquiao, whom Mayweather’s father accused of using performance-enhancing drugs, leading to prolonged wrangling over the nature of the blood testing that would precede the fight. With the Pacquiao fight stalled, Mayweather won a unanimous decision over three-time welterweight champion Shane Mosley in a May 2010 nontitle bout. Mayweather next fought Victor Ortiz in September 2011, recapturing the WBC welterweight title—which he had surrendered at his retirement—after he controversially (though legally) knocked Ortiz out when Ortiz approached him with his guard down to apologize for an earlier head butt.

In December 2011 Mayweather—who had received suspended sentences for two earlier instances of domestic violence—was sentenced to 90 days in jail and 100 hours of community service after pleading guilty to reduced domestic violence battery and harassment charges that stemmed from a September 2010 incident in which Mayweather attacked his former girlfriend in front of two of their children. Before he entered prison, he fought Miguel Cotto in May 2012, winning a unanimous decision to capture the World Boxing Association (WBA) light middleweight title. Mayweather began his prison sentence in June 2012 and was released for good behaviour after serving two months.

Mayweather’s next bout was a unanimous decision over Robert Guerrero in May 2013. His following two fights showed possible chinks in the great fighter’s armour: Mayweather won majority decisions (wherein one of the three judges deemed the bout a draw) against Mexico’s Saul Alvarez in September 2013 and Argentina’s Marcos Maidana in May 2014, which were only the second and third times of his career that he did not win a fight by knockout, unanimous decision, or retirement of his opponent. After years of rumours and on-and-off negotiations, Mayweather and Pacquiao agreed to fight on May 2, 2015. Mayweather entered the bout as the clear favourite, and he largely dictated the pace on his way to a victory by unanimous decision. On August 26, 2017, Mayweather fought mixed martial arts champion Conor McGregor. The bout produced a huge financial windfall for both fighters—Mayweather was guaranteed at least a $100 million purse for appearing—but was widely derided as a publicity stunt by boxing observers, who were validated when Mayweather easily defeated a fighter who had never before participated in a pure boxing match with a 10th-round technical knockout. Following the bout, Mayweather announced his retirement from boxing with a 50–0 career record.