On January 24th 2011, the boxing public may see something happen that has never been done before, a KO of Floyd Mayweather Jr. On that date, Floyd Jr. is due in the courtroom to answer charges of felony counts of coercion, robbery and grand larceny -- as well as four misdemeanors, in an incident involving his children and their mother, Josie Harris. Harris alleges that Floyd Jr. beat her, threatened more harm and stole her cell phone. He allegedly then made threats to beat his sons, should they called the police or left the house. He was released on $3000 bail. Should he be found guilty on all charges, it could cost Floyd up to 34 years in prison.
You would think with all of this on his plate, Floyd would try to be low key and not make any waves. Apparently we don’t know Floyd Jr. On November 15th, Floyd Jr. had an altercation in which he allegedly battered a security guard from his homeowners association over parking tickets the guard placed on cars outside the fighters home. Police allege that Floyd Jr. stopped the 21 year old guard and refused to allow him to leave the cul-de-sac where the fighter lives. He allegedly confronted the guard telling him that he had “no business touching his personal property”. During the confrontation it was reported that the former champion repeatedly poked the guard in the face with his finger. The police responded and took photos of the area, which was reddened and a bit swollen. Floyd Jr. denies the charges through his attorney Karen Winckler. He was arrested on December 17th on these charges and was once again released on bail.
Ok, so maybe a couple of really bad days. We have all had those type of days, bad days I meant, not like what happened in the two examples above. So maybe Floyd has learned that he may have been a Superman inside the squared ring, but not so much outside. These charges, along with a racist rant that he recorded on Ustream have made more news than anything that Floyd Jr. did inside the ring in 2010.
So, maybe these incidents have humbled or softened Floyd. Well, maybe not. On December 19th, at 4 AM, Floyd was returning to his home when he stopped at the guard gate just outside of his gated community. The security guard approached and asked for the fighters ID before he allowed access to the community. This did not sit well with Floyd Jr. as he demanded to be let into his community. He proceeded to tell the guard “You’re gonna let me in my m-----f-----g house”. He then goes on to tell the guard that he “knows who I am” and then says that he had a problem with this security before when one of them lied about him. When the guard goes into the guard house to make a phone call, Floyd Jr gets out of his car and opens the gate for himself, then drives away. The prosecutors of the November 15th incident will probably be asking for a copy of this tape to use against him, showing that the fighter has an axe to grind with the security personnel. This may also be the case of an overzealous security guard wanted to use the little power that he is given. Either way, the taped altercation will wind up worse for the former champion should it wind up in court.
On May 7th, the man who the boxing public is screaming for Floyd to fight, Manny Pacquiao will take on future hall of fame member Shane Mosley. This fight should be between Pacquiao and Mayweather Jr, but that fight has not happened due to demands by the Mayweather camp on blood testing, squabbles over the split of the money by both parties and Floyd’s insistence that he is “on vacation”. With the criminal charges facing Floyd, he will not be able to duck them with protests or “vacation” declarations; they will be waiting for him to answer. Do I think that the trial will happen on January 24th, no. There will be postponements and rescheduling due to conflicts, but by the end of 2011, Floyd will have to answer to the court of law for his actions. Let’s hope that he is able to behave himself until then, but then again……..
Bob Carroll
www.convictedartist.com
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