Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his father Floyd Mayweather Sr. have very different recollections of the younger Mayweather’s childhood. Mayweather Sr. has been credited with teaching his son the defensive skills he has used to become one of the greatest boxers of all time, but at what cost?
Mayweather Jr’s mother was a drug addict who died from complications associated with AIDS. Floyd’s father went to prison for five years when the welterweight champion was 16. Prior to that, Mayweather Sr. was incredibly hard on Mayweather Jr. and forced him to train from a very young age. During an appearance on The Howard Stern Show Wednesday, Mayweather spoke about his father abusing him.
“My dad was kind of hard on me,” he said. “As a child I didn’t really have a child life. I was jogging with combat boots on and chopping wood at the age of 10.”
Stern asked Mayweather if he ever feels resentful because of the way his father treated him or wonders if he would have been a great fighter without being stripped of his childhood.
“I’m thankful now,” Mayweather replied. “I think about it sometimes. I think it helped in a way, because I feel like I have the will to win at whatever I do. I think I was born with it.”
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Stern then specifically asked Mayweather if he was beaten.
“Yes,” he said. “It was kind of like school. Everything I did when I was younger, I got beaten for. It was bad — belt or extension cord.”
The conversation later turned to Floyd’s own children, of which he has four. He was asked if he would ever abuse them.
“After I was abused as a child, I don’t abuse my children,” Mayweather said. “No. I truly don’t believe in putting my hands on my children.”
Mayweather and his father had a tempestuous relationship for several years before reuniting before Floyd fought Robert Guerrero. After Mayweather won that fight to improve to 44-0, Mayweather Sr. said he is the reason his son did not get hit in the Guerrero fight as much as he got hit in previous bouts.
Mayweather told Stern that he will never forget what his father did to him as a child, but that he has forgiven him. He’s obviously at a place in his life and career where he feels holding anger toward his father accomplishes very little.
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