Saturday 17 September 2011

Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

Floyd Joy Mayweather, Jr., born Floyd Sinclair; February 24, 1977, is an American professional boxer. He is a five-division world champion, where he has won ten world titles, including the lineal championship in two different weight classes. He is a two-time The Ring "Fighter of the Year" winning the award in 1998 and 2007, and also Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) "Fighter of the Year" in 2007. He is undefeated as a professional boxer.
Currently, Mayweather is the WBC Emeritus World Super Welterweight Champion. He was formerly rated as the "number one" pound-for-pound best boxer in the world by most sporting news and boxing websites, including The Ring, BoxRec.com, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, BBC Sports and Yahoo! Sports but was removed from the rankings due to retirement and currently due to inactivity.




Early Life


Fitted with boxing gloves while he was still a toddler, Floyd Mayweather started boxing at the age of seven, and his acumen for the hardest game was obvious from the start. Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mayweather was born into a boxing family. His father, Floyd Mayweather Sr. was a former welterweight contender who fought Hall of Famer Sugar Ray Leonard, and his uncles, Roger Mayweather and Jeff Mayweather, were also pro fighters, with Roger – Floyd’s current trainer – winning two world championships. Mayweather was born with his mother's last name, but his last name would change to Mayweather shortly thereafter. Aged 16, Mayweather went to live with his grandmother, after his father was sent to federal prison for smuggling drugs.




Amateur career and Olympics


Mayweather had an amateur record of 84–6 and won national Golden Gloves championships in 1993 (at 106 lb), 1994 (at 114 lb), and 1996 (at 125 lb). 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. 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.
At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Mayweather won a bronze medal by reaching the semi-finals of the featherweight (57 kg) 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. 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.
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. "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.
Even the referee, Hamad Hafaz Shouman of Egypt, thought Mayweather has won, mistakenly raising his hand as the decision was announced giving the bout to the Bulgarian. 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. "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.
"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."
Qualification as a Featherweight for the United States Olympic Team.
Defeated William Jenkins RSC/TKO-3
Defeated James Baker RSCH/TKO-1
Lost to Augie Sanchez PTS (11-12)
Defeated Carlos Navarro PTS (31-11)
Defeated Augie Sanchez PTS (12-8) at the Box-offs
Defeated Augie Sanchez PTS (20-10) at the Box-offs
Olympic Results
Defeated Bakhtiyar Tileganov (Kazakhstan) RSCI/TKO-2
Defeated Artur Gevorgyan (Armenia) PTS (16-3)
Defeated Lorenzo Aragon (Cuba) PTS (12-11)
Lost to Serafim Todorov (Bulgaria) PTS (9-10)
Controversial decision was officially protested (unsuccessfully) by the U.S. team.






Professional Career


Super Featherweight


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).From 1996 to early 1998, Mayweather won most of his fights by knockout or TKO.
On October 3, 1998, Mayweather won his first world title, the WBC Super Featherweight championship, when the corner of Genaro Hernandez stopped the fight after round 8. The official scorecards at the time of stoppage had Mayweather ahead 80-72, 79-73, and 79-73. Hernandez had never been defeated at the weight class, and his only loss had come to Oscar De La Hoya three years earlier.
In his first title defense, Mayweather would challenge top Super Featherweight contender Angel Manfredy. Manfredy was viewed as one of boxings top contenders. He hadn't lost a fight in over 4 years and was coming off a big win over Arturo Gatti 11 months earlier. The bout took place on December 19, 1998. Mayweather won the fight by technical knockout in the second round.
Mayweather would then defend his title against top contenders Carlos Rios, Justin Juuko, and Carlos Gerena. Before he fought 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. Roger Mayweather returned to his role as Mayweather, Jr.'s trainer in his next bout—a non-title fight against Emanuel Burton. 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.
Mayweather's biggest fight as a super featherweight was on January 20, 2001, against unbeaten Diego Corrales. At the time, neither fighter had been defeated or knocked down. 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.
In Mayweather's next bout, on May 26, 2001, future IBF champion Carlos "Famoso" Hernández knocked down Mayweather for the first time. Mayweather entered the bout with injured hands. When Mayweather hit Hernández with a left hook in round 6, the pain caused Mayweather to drop his left hand to the canvas, and the referee called it a knockdown. Nonetheless, Mayweather won the fight by unanimous decision. The official scorecards read 119-109, 117-109, and 116-111, all in favor of Mayweather. In the award-winning documentary film More Than Famous, Hernández's bout against Mayweather was prominently featured.
Mayweather's last fight in the super featherweight division was against future super featherweight and lightweight champion Jesús Chávez, on November 10, 2001. It 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. Official scorecards had Mayweather ahead 89-82, 88-83, and 87-84. Mayweather had such difficulty making weight for this fight that he did not eat for four days before the weigh-in.




Lightweight


The first bout took place on April 20, 2002. Castillo had success when he cut off the ring and used his strength to wear down Mayweather. But it was not enough to make up for his slow start in the fight. In the early rounds, Mayweather used his superior speed and footwork to out point Castillo. Many ringside observers had Mayweather winning the first 4 or 5 rounds. However, in the middle and late rounds, Castillo successfully cut the ring off and pounded Mayweather to the body. Mayweather won the unanimous decision, with official scorecards reading 116-111, 115-111, and 115-111, in favor of Mayweather. Still, many analysts and fans feel that Mayweather should have lost the fight. In a post fight interview, Mayweather blamed his injured hands for his sub-par performance against Castillo, and said he would entertain the idea of a rematch. Bob Arum and Top Rank called for an immediate rematch after the fight as well.
Mayweather and Castillo would fight a rematch on December 7, 2002. In the fight, Mayweather used his quick footwork, combinations, and jab to coast to another unanimous decision victory, this time with no controversy. The smaller Mayweather was outweighed by Castillo on the night of the fight, as Castillo weighed 147 and Mayweather weighed 138. Official scorecards read 115-113, 116-113, and 115-113, in favor of Mayweather.
On April 19, 2003, Mayweather dominated the Dominican Victoriano Sosa and won by unanimous decision. Mayweather's next fight (on November 1, 2003) was in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. He fought against the promising South African knockout specialist Phillip Ndou, whose record was 31–1 with 30 KOs. Uncharacteristically, Mayweather was offensively oriented from the beginning of the fight. Round 5 was one of 2003's most action-packed. In the middle of the round, Mayweather landed a barrage of powerful punches. Ndou endured and threw wild punches that forced Mayweather into the ropes, but Mayweather demonstrated his rhythmic defensive technique and let Ndou wear himself out further. In round 6, Ndou wobbled and was pushed down. In round 7, a combination of three straight right hands knocked down Ndou and caused a TKO, when N'Dou's trainers  Nick Durandt and Tommy Brooks  contemplated throwing in the towel. However, the ref stopped the fight as Ndou did not move forward (as part of a test to ensure he was okay from the knockdown).




Super Lightweight


In 2004, Mayweather moved up to the super lightweight division. His first fight in this division was against southpaw DeMarcus Corley. Mayweather used his speed and jabs to win the early rounds. In the first minute of round 4, Corley landed a solid left hand and drove Mayweather into the ropes, but Mayweather recovered and fought back ferociously. After that round, Mayweather mostly controlled Corley. Mayweather knocked down Corley in rounds 8 and 10, but Corley was able to continue until the end. Mayweather won by unanimous decision. The fight was Mayweather's only one in 2004.
On January 22, 2005, Mayweather fought against Henry Bruseles of Puerto Rico in a 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.
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." The pay-per-view fight occurred on June 25, 2005 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where the fans heavily supported Gatti. Near the end of round 1, Mayweather pushed Gatti's head down in close and the referee instructed the fighters to "Stop punching." Gatti broke and left himself vulnerable while Mayweather either deliberately or indeliberately disobeyed the referee's command and 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, despite Gatti's complaints. 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. Mayweather was ahead 60-52, 60-53, and 60-52 on all three scorecards at the time of stoppage. It was one of the most one-sided and most 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. Compubox had Mayweather outlanding Gatti by a total of 168 to 41.
One month after the Gatti fight, Mayweather went to trial for a domestic violence charge. He faced a minimum of one year in prison if he was convicted. Mayweather had been accused of violence against his former girlfriend, Josie Harris. Harris had claimed that Mayweather had punched and kicked her during an argument in Mayweather's Bentley, outside a Las Vegas nightclub in 2003. During the trial, however, Harris admitted that she had lied on the initial police report and testified that Mayweather never hit her. The jury acquitted Mayweather.




Welterweight


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.
Main article: Floyd Mayweather vs. Zab Judah
On April 8, 2006, Mayweather defeated Zab Judah for the IBF and vacant IBO world welterweight titles by unanimous decision. Beforehand, the fight had been jeopardized after Judah lost the WBA, WBC and Ring Magazine 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. 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.[41]
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. The suspension entails that Roger can train Mayweather, Jr. in the gym but cannot work the corner during fights. 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.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. Oscar De la Hoya, however, postponed his decision until 2007, leaving Mayweather to choose his next opponent. 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.


The World Awaits


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.
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. Offical 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.




Return to Welterweight


Undefeated


After his fight with De La Hoya, Mayweather decided to relinquish his WBC junior middleweight championship and kept his WBC welterweight championship. On July 28, 2007, it was announced that Mayweather would come out of his short retirement to fight 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."[50]
Mayweather controlled the fight from the start and knocked Hatton out in the 10th round to retain the welterweight championship.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.
I


Comeback


Number One/Numero Uno


On May 2, 2009, it was confirmed that Mayweather was coming out of a 21-month retirement to fight lightweight champion Juan Manuel Márquez at a catchweight of 144 lb on July 18 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on HBO PPV. 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. 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. 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. 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.




Who R U Picking?


Negotiations for a proposed matchup between Mayweather and 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.[59] Both sides eventually agreed to fight on May 1, 2010 for Mosley's WBA World 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. Both Mayweather and Mosley agreed to Olympic-style testing for this bout. 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.
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.




Negotiations with Manny Pacquiao


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. 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 conducts the tests anytime from training up to the fight date. 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.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.
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. 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. 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". 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. 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. 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. 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.




Return to the Ring


Star Power


On June 7, 2011, Mayweather announced via Twitter that he is set to fight WBC Welterweight Champion Victor Ortiz on September 17, 2011. Ortiz will be Mayweather's first challenger in 16 months.
As part of the hype leading up to the fight, both fighters will be featured in another installment of the award-winning sports reality series 24/7 on HBO. This will be the fifth installment featuring Mayweather.




World Wrestling Entertainment


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. 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 turned heel by using various underhanded tactics and defeated Big Show by knockout using brass knuckles to maintain his unbeaten record. 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.




Dancing with the Stars


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.




Domestic violence case


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. 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. If convicted of all charges, Mayweather could face up to 34 years in prison.




Honours, awards and recognitions


1993 Michigan State Golden Gloves Champion, 106 Lbs
1993 National Golden Gloves Champion, 106 Lbs
1994 Michigan State Golden Gloves Champion, 112 Lbs
1994 National Golden Gloves Champion, 112 Lbs; Outstanding Boxer Award
1995 National PAL Champion, 125 Lbs; Outstanding Boxer Award
1995 U.S. National Amateur Featherweight Champion, 125 Lbs
1995 Competed at Featherweight at the World Amateur Boxing Championships
1996 Michigan State Golden Gloves Champion, 125 Lbs
1996 National Golden Gloves Champion, 125 Lbs
1996 Qualified as a Featherweight for the United States Olympic Team
1996 Atlanta Olympics Featherweight Bronze medalist
1998 and 2007 International Boxing Award (Muhammed Ali Boxing Award) Fighter of the Year
1998 and 2007 The Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year
2000–09 Yahoo Sports, Best of the Decade
2002 World Boxing Hall of Fame Fighter of the Year
2005, 2006 and 2007 The Ring 'number one' pound for pound (Year-End)
2005 and 2007 World Boxing Council Boxer of the Year
2007 Boxing Writers Association of America Fighter of the Year
2007 ESPN Fighter of the Year
2007 Forbes Magazine, Ranked "Number 14" Richest Celebrity Paydays
2007 New York Daily News Fighter of the Year
2007 World Boxing Council Event of the Year (The World Awaits)
2007 World Boxing Council Knockout of the Year (against Ricky Hatton)
2007, 2008 and 2010 Best Fighter ESPY Award
2007, 2008 and 2010 The Ring Magazine Event of the Year
2008 Yahoo Sports, Ranked "Number 6" Most Powerful People in Boxing
2009 The Ring Magazine Comeback of the Year
2010 Yahoo! Sports Boxing's Most Influential (ranked 70th)
2010 Forbes Magazine Celebrity 100 (ranked 31st)
2010 Forbes Magazine, The World's 50 Top-Earning Athletes (ranked 2nd)
2010 Sports Illustrated, The 50 Highest-Earning American Athletes (ranked 3rd)[106

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