Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (born Floyd Joy Sinclair; February 24, 1977) is an American professional boxer. He is currently undefeated as a professional and is a five-division world champion, having won ten world titles and the lineal championship in four different weight classes. Mayweather topped the Sports Illustrated list of the 50 highest-paid athletes of 2012 and 2013. He recently topped the Forbes 2014 list, making Mayweather the highest paid athlete in the world at that time. However, this list of impressive successes is not the whole story.
|
|
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. " Floyd's father has spent several years in prison for dealing drugs.
"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". |
|
Boxing became Mayweather's outlet – a way to deal with his father's absence. As the elder Mayweather served his time, his son – with speed and an uncanny ring sense – put all his energies into boxing, dropping 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.
Mayweather is a two-time Ring magazine Fighter of the Year (winning the award in 1998 and 2007); he also won the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) Fighter of the Year award in 2007 and the Best Fighter ESPY Award in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Mayweather is the WBC welterweight champion, WBA (Super) super welterweight champion, WBC Super welterweight champion, recipient of the WBC diamond super welterweight belt, current Ring #1 ranked welterweight, and Ring #1 ranked junior middleweight. He is also rated as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world by many sporting news and boxing websites, including Ring, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, BoxRec, Fox Sports, and Yahoo! Sports.
Mayweather is a two-time Ring magazine Fighter of the Year (winning the award in 1998 and 2007); he also won the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) Fighter of the Year award in 2007 and the Best Fighter ESPY Award in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Mayweather is the WBC welterweight champion, WBA (Super) super welterweight champion, WBC Super welterweight champion, recipient of the WBC diamond super welterweight belt, current Ring #1 ranked welterweight, and Ring #1 ranked junior middleweight. He is also rated as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world by many sporting news and boxing websites, including Ring, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, BoxRec, Fox Sports, and Yahoo! Sports.