Floyd Mayweather Jr. Boxes Like Magic

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. has always wanted to box, and many in his family had the same career goals. His father once fought Sugar Ray Leonard. When he was young, his family was poor, and it was common to have no electricity in their home. This is in stark contrast to the life they can afford now.

Mayweather had an amateur record of 84-6 and won the Golden Gloves national championship in 1993. He won a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The team and fans, as well as Mayweather himself, felt that he won his last bout, but the team appeal failed to reverse the decision of the judges.

Floyd Mayweather had his first pro bout in 1996, and from then to the early part of 1998, he won most of his bouts by knockout or by TKO. He was on his way to the top, and many people saw that coming. He won his first title, the WBC Super Welterweight Championship in 1998, and at the end of the year, The Ring ranked him at number 8 on the list of best boxers, pound for pound.

Mayweather continued to defend his title and he fought Diego Corrales, winning every round. The reporters said that his speed was dazzling. He won, and defended the WBC Super Featherweight title by defeating Carlos Hernandez, in what he described as one of the most difficult fights in his career.

In the lightweight class, Mayweather fought and defeated Jose Luis Castillo as his first bout in the division. Castillo simply was not fast enough to fight Mayweather and win. They fought in a rematch at a later date and Mayweather won by unanimous decision.

Mayweather’s fighting style was described as “like magic” by the trainer of the first opponent in the next weight class in which Mayweather fought. Mayweather also fought Arturo Gotti, who was at the time rated the number one contender by The Ring. Mayweather was simply too fast for Gotti, and won when the fight was stopped after the sixth round. This gave Mayweather his third weight class title. He left that weight class and moved to the Welterweight division.

After he fought Gotti, Mayweather fought a non-title fight and then beat Zab Judah to win the IBF Welterweight title. Mayweather landed a blow below the belt in round ten, and there was a melee in the ring after the blow and the call. Police had to help restore order. Mayweather did win the fight by official scoring. The decision was not overturned, but Mayweather’s trainer, Roger Mayweather, was fined and suspended for a year.

Mayweather had become The Ring titleholder in the Lightweight and Welterweight classes, and eventually he would enter the ring against Oscar De La Hoya, a fight that the world had been waiting for. De La Hoya was the WBC Light Middleweight title holder, and the fight generated the most Pay Per View buys for boxing, with 2.7 million households paying to watch.

Mayweather beat De La Hoya in a split decision to capture the WBC title. Many observers and analysts felt that Mayweather should have won by unanimous decision. Mayweather had better accuracy throughout the fight, and landed more power punches. He contemplated retirement after this fight, feeling hat he had achieved his goals as a boxer. Instead, he would return to boxing, with wins against top contenders. He defeated Miguel Cotto in May of 2012, becoming one of the top money winners of all time.