Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a professional boxer who has gone undefeated for his entire career. He is also one of the top-paid athletes in history. Born to humble beginnings, Floyd worked hard to rise to the very top of his game.
“Don't ever know who you may meet, or just because a person may not be dressed up all fancy, don't mean they're not an important person. You just don't ever know who you're gonna meet in life. So that's why I look at everybody as equal. Can't just judge. I treat everybody with respect. Every man.”
Floyd Mayweather Jr. Facts
1. The Origin Story
On February 24, 1977, Floyd Mayweather was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
2. The Boxer Bloodline
Floyd’s father and two of his uncles were all boxers. His Uncle Roger won the World Featherweight Title several times in the 1980’s and early 90’s.
3. One Tough Baby
When Floyd Mayweather was a tiny one-year old baby, his father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., was involved in selling drugs. He got into a fight with one of the other dealers, so the other dealer showed up to the house and pointed a gun at Floyd Sr.’s head. He picked up baby Floyd Jr. and used him as a shield to keep from getting shot.
4. Daddy Issues
In 1993, Floyd’s father was arrested for possession and trafficking cocaine. His mother had addiction issues too, so his family life was not exactly easy.
The Ring Magazine, Getty Images
5. Jersey Strong
While his mother was trying to raise him on her own, they moved to New Jersey for a period of time in his childhood. He described 7 people crammed into a one-bedroom apartment. There were times when no one had money for the electric bill, and those 7 people would have to live without it, until they could pay to get the lights back on.
6. To Hell and Back
Floyd’s aunt died from AIDS, which she caught from sharing heroin needles. When he would come home from from school, there were used needles scattered across the front lawn.
7. Counting Dollars Instead of Sheep
Even as a small child, Floyd Mayweather was dreaming of dollar signs. “I would lie in bed, and I was nine years old, and say to myself: 'I want to be the richest man in the world.' I've come a long way from there.”
8. Starting Young
When he was only 10 years old, Floyd’s dad took him out for dinner to eat steak to help him get some protein to prepare for a junior boxing tournament. When he won, he was so happy about it, he slept hugging his trophy for two weeks straight.
9. The Big Leagues
Floyd had been boxing his entire life. At 22 years old, he finally started fighting professionally. Right away, he won 15 out of 16 of his matches.
Christian Petersen, Getty Images
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10. Do What You Love
When accused of only boxing for the money, Floyd Mayweather responded, “I think I already proved that I wasn't just fighting for the money, because I fought as an amateur. I fought 90 fights for free.”
11. The Only Option
While in jail, Floyd Sr.’s brothers would let him know when Floyd Jr. was out partying all the time and skipping boxing practice. He responded with phone calls directly from jail, telling his son that if he doesn’t take boxing seriously, there may not be any other option for his future besides selling drugs. Determined not to end up like his father, Floyd Jr. clearly took that advice to heart.
12. Not the Face!
In his younger years, his fellow boxers always called him “Pretty Boy” because his face has very few scars or damage from receiving blows to the face. The only reason why he could avoid multiple broken noses is because his dad taught him defensive techniques.
13. Turning Over a New Leaf
When his father got out of prison, he decided to leave his life of crime behind and began coaching Floyd in boxing. He was both his manager and trainer.
14. Never Mix Family With Business
In the year 2000, family drama became too much for Floyd to bear. He fired his dad as his manager, but kept him on as his boxing trainer. Even then, they argued too much to work well together. So they had to go their separate ways. Floyd hired his Uncle Roger to train him instead.
15. Forgive and Forget
In 2013, Floyd’s Uncle Roger’s eyesight started to go bad, which made it impossible to be his coach anymore. Floyd and his father had long since gotten over the bad blood between them from years before, so they began training together again in 2013. He was quoted saying that he wants his children to have a relationship with their grandfather, and it was important to him that they could try to repair the family.
Christian Petersen, Getty Images
16. Inspiration
Floyd Mayweather is friends with Mike Tyson. They used to train together at the same gym. Mayweather credits Tyson for being his motivation to succeed, because he would drive up in a Rolls-Royce and wear diamond watches. After seeing how wealthy a boxer can become, it only pushed Mayweather to work harder.
17. Bad Temper
Floyd doesn’t always keep his fights inside of the ring. In 2002, he was arrested for violence more than once. Five of those arrests involved violence against women. When asked about his reputation, he responded, “You've got to have a villain and they'll always make me a villain. I'm used to it--it makes me work harder and it makes me fight harder.”
18. The Excuse
In an interview with Katie Couric, Floyd Mayweather defended himself against the claims that he beats women. He claimed that he was restraining Josie Harris because she was high on drugs and acting out violently herself.
19. Focus
Despite the fact that he has plead guilty to violence and abuse, he claims not to bring any anger into the ring, because it would cloud his judgement. “If you fight angry, you make a lot of mistakes, and when you fight a sharp, witty fighter like me, you can't make mistakes.”
Christian Petersen, Getty Images
20. Team USA
He won an Olympic bronze medal in boxing in 1996. He was part of the “featherweight” division After losing in the semi-finals, he never lost again.
21. The Classics
Floyd Mayweather likes listening to old school rappers like Biggie Smalls and Tupac.
Columbia, Poetic Justice (1993)
22. Daddy
He has a total of 4 kids, from two different ex-girlfriends. His sons are named Koraun and Zion. He also has two daughters named Jirah and Iyanna. Melissa Brim is the mother of Iyanna, while Josie Harris is the mother of the other three kids. He loves to spoil his kids, giving them lavish Sweet 16 parties and buying them $400,000 cars when they first learn how to drive.
23. Fighting is Fighting?
In 2008, Floyd Mayweather fought in the WWE against The Big Show. Despite a slight size difference, Floyd was victorious. This is especially impressive considering "real" things can get inside the WWE ring...
24. Ready for Anything
He claims to never watch videos of the men he is going to fight. He doesn’t want to have any expectation of what’s coming while he’s training.
Christian Petersen, Getty Images
25. Paso Doble
Dancing with the Stars asked him to see how light he was on his feet outside the ring, back in 2009. He did the two-step, but wasn’t winning any serious dance competitions.
Chamber of Fear, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
26. Money Talks
In 2010, he made $60 million. This made him the third-highest paid athlete in the United States. As time went on, the amount of money he earns per fight went up. In 2015, he made $150 million for a single fight.
27. Bling
He has a reputation for spending his money on extravagant purchases and showing off his wealth on a regular basis. This seems to be a way to leave his past behind. He was quoted saying, “When people see what I have now, they have no idea of where I came from and how I didn't have anything growing up.”
28. Behind Bars
Josie Harris is the mother of three of his children. During a fight, he pulled her hair and twisted her arms, and punched her. Two of their children witnessed the abuse. He spent 90 days in prison in 2011 after pleading guilty to harassment and domestic abuse charges.
29. Second Chances
After all of the issues with Josie, he became engaged to an actress named Shantel Jackson. He proposed to her via text message, along with a proposal to help her get acting contracts, in exchange for her to say “yes.” Their engagement was broken off, and court documents later revealed that Floyd held her at gunpoint, choked her, threatened to expose steamy naked photos of her in bed and told her "You're not s*** without me."
Kevork Djansezian, Getty Images
30. Eligible Bachelor
Floyd Mayweather has never been married. In 2016, he was rumored to be dating a woman who he met because she was his personal masseuse. It seems as though he is simply enjoying the single life, and the perks that come along with that.
Christian Petersen, Getty Images
31. I’ll Head Out First…
Floyd Mayweather has multiple security guards, and they are all huge guys who could take just about anybody down. Rumor has it that Mayweather asks them to fly on a different plane than him, because he is afraid of heights. He thinks all that extra weight might bring the plane down.
32. Dolla Dolla Bill
His net worth is estimated to be around $610 million. He holds $125 million in his checking account for purchases.
33. The Gambler
He likes to watch other sporting events, and bet big bucks on the outcome. On Instagram, he bragged about winning $850,000 in a single weekend after starting out with $350,000 spread across multiple games--and they all won.
34. Boxers, or Briefs?
Apparently, Mayweather throws out his underwear after wearing them once, instead of washing them. He apparently spends $6,500 a year on buying new underwear.
35. Boxing with Biebs
Floyd Mayweather is Justin Bieber’s boxing coach. Bieber is often seen hanging around with the rest of Mayweather’s entourage, and always has ringside seats during his fights.
36. Self-Care
He reportedly spends two hours in the morning shaving his entire body and generally taking really good care of himself. He regularly gets manicures, pedicures, and massages.
37. What Time Is It?
Mayweather has flashy taste and owns a collection of diamond-encrusted watches. He also has a lot of gold chains with diamonds.
38. Vroom Vroom
He has a huge collection of luxury cars on his property, which he loves to show off to reporters and on Instagram.
39. Filthy Rich
Mayweather is not afraid to show off his money every chance he gets. His Instagram account is filled with photos showing off his wealth, like sitting in a private jet with stacks of $100 dollar bills on the table in front of him.
40. Just Because.
Mayweather has received plenty of prizes for his fights. Spike TV gave him the “Best Ever” award in 2015.
41. Planning Ahead
Floyd Mayweather said that he decided to retire from boxing while he was still young and physically fit enough to where he wouldn’t end up getting so injured that he was forced to quit. On April 16th, 2016, he announced his retirement on Twitter. “I have decided to retire young. Thanks for the cheese. Catch yas later.”
rcelis, CC0, Wikimedia Commons
42. The Challenger
In 2017, he was quoted saying, “I’m coming out of retirement just to fight Conor McGregor.” McGregor is a UFC fighter, so he is not a traditional boxer. They both made roughly $100 million for the fight. No one can know for sure what Mayweather’s motivation was, since he already has plenty of money. Maybe it was the challenge of fighting someone from a different discipline.
43.One Last Time
Floyd Mayweather defeated Conor McGregor on August 26th, 2017 in the 10th round by TKO. . Immediately after, he went back into retirement.
