Floyd Mayweather Jr., born February 24, 1977, is a boxing promoter and former professional boxer from the United States.
He currently owns The Money Team Racing, a NASCAR Cup Series team.
He was a professional boxer from 1996 to 2017, retiring with an undefeated record and 15 major world championships ranging from super featherweight to light middleweight.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is widely regarded as the greatest boxer of his generation.
Early life and Education
Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. was born on February 24, 1977, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to a boxing family.
His father, Floyd Mayweather Sr. is a former welterweight contender.
His uncles Jeff and the late Roger Mayweather were also professional boxers, with the latter serving as Floyd’s longtime trainer and winning two world championships.
Floyd’s maternal grandfather was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He attended Ottawa Hills High School before dropping out.
His mother was a hopeless drug addict. The family barely made ends meet financially.
When his father was convicted of illegal drug trafficking, he spent much of his childhood with his grandmother.
Missing his parents, Mayweather turned to boxing as a way to express his frustration and anger.
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Career
Mayweather has been involved with boxing since he was a child, and he has never seriously contemplated a career in any other sport.
He got the nickname “Pretty Boy” throughout his amateur career due to his unmarked face.
Mayweather has an amateur record of 84 victories and 8 defeats.
He won the national Golden Gloves in 1993, 1994, and 1996, but his amateur career ended on a sour note at the 1996 Olympics.
On October 11, 1996, Mayweather won his first professional fight, knocking out fellow newbie Roberto Apodaca in Round 2.
At the time, Mayweather’s trainer was his uncle, Roger Mayweather; his father was still imprisoned following his conviction for illicit narcotics trafficking in 1993.
When he was freed from prison (after Mayweather Jr.’s 14th fight, a second-round knockout of Sam Girard), he took over as his son’s trainer.
Mayweather won the majority of his contests by knockout or TKO between 1996 and early 1998.
Mayweather got plaudits from all corners of the boxing world early in his professional career and was hailed as a pugilistic prodigy.
According to Forbes, he was the highest-paid athlete in the world in 2018 with total earnings, including sponsorships, of $285 million.
In November 2021, Sportico released an all-time athlete earnings list, with Mayweather ranking sixth with total career earnings of $1.2 billion after inflation.
Personal Life
Mayweather lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, in a 22,000-square-foot (2,000 square meters), five-bedroom, seven-bath custom-built mansion.
In 2008, he recorded a rap song called “Yep,” which he used for his entrance during his match against Big Show at WrestleMania XXIV.
He owns the “Mayweather Boxing Club” in Las Vegas’ Chinatown Plaza.
In 2011, he paid for the funeral of his former opponent, former super lightweight world champion Genaro Hernandez, who died of cancer after a three-year fight.
Mayweather has four biological children and one adopted son. He has three children with former reality star Josie Harris and one with television celebrity Melissa Brim.
