By Chris Robinson
There was once a time when Jeff Mayweather and his nephew Floyd were extremely close. Jeff was around when Floyd turned professional in October of 1996 with a 2nd round stoppage over Robert Apodaca in Las Vegas and he would serve as somewhat of a mentor and manager as the young pugilist climbed the junior lightweight rankings.
The two men shared a special night together on October 3rd, 1998 when Floyd thoroughly outclassed then-champion Genero Hernandez to win his first world title and the tears that came streaming down from each man’s face were for real. It was a confirmation of what the Mayweather’s had been working to and believed in but soon nephew and Uncle would go their separate ways.
Obviously basking in the glow of his newly found championship status, Floyd’s persona seemed to change and he brought in former music mogul James Prince as his new manager. The news was unbeknownst to Jeff, who had essentially been replaced out of the blue after years of dedication to something he believed in, and instead of taking on a secondary role he would simply walk away from the situation.
“Basically I had to do my own thing,” Mayweather says reflecting back over ten years. “I didn’t come out [to Las Vegas] with the intentions of my nephew ever coming out here or ever being able to make a dime off of him because that was never my intention. That was just something that just kind of fell in my lap. Basically it was a situation where I felt in time that hopefully things would work themselves out but I couldn’t dwell on anything that happened between us. I didn’t feel that I did anything wrong and he didn’t feel that he did anything wrong and that’s probably why it took us so long to reconnect. I was still a fan of his and I still came out to support him. There was nothing lost.”
There was little communication between the two men for several years as Floyd continued to collect titles while Jeff went through the rigors that come with a trainer’s life in Nevada. Last month the men were spotted together inside of Floyd’s personal gym and there were no signs of tension or bitterness, only understanding and a hint of forgiveness.
“Basically we talked more about life than boxing or anything like that,” Jeff claims of his time with Floyd. “He talked about some things in his life that he had to amend as well and we talked a little bit about boxing. To be honest, he’s my nephew and I never had any animosity towards him or anything. To be honest things just picked up as they left off. Now our conversation is more mature than it was before. He’s grown as a man now.”
While Floyd indeed may be grown his actions of late haven’t exactly been too mature as in this month alone he has gone on an ill-advised UStream tirade against Manny Pacquiao as well as having found himself in quite the legal battle as he is now facing various forms of larceny and four misdemeanors stemming from a September 10th run in with the mother of three of his children, Josie Harris. Giving his thoughts on Floyd’s current dilemma, you can sense the concern in Jeff’s tone.
“It’s bad publicity,” Mayweather continues. “But more importantly it is serious charges that he is facing. I hope there is a way he can get himself out of it and hopefully turn things around.”
Whatever happens to the 33-year old Mayweather, Jeff will always be his own man and in recent times he has had much to be grateful for as he has been working with two extremely talented fighters in former super bantamweight champion Celestino Caballero and middleweight prospect Brandon Gonzales. Things are definitely looking up for the mild-mannered trainer but he still takes the time to express his obvious love for Floyd. Despite any rifts or disagreements in the past, family is family and Jeff is standing by his blood during these times.
“I just hope he gets himself out of the situation. There is a lot at stake. Of course the whole world is waiting for him and Pacquiao to fight, that’s one thing. But of course there are other things that are on the table that are more important that just boxing. We’re hoping that things go his way but you never know. Sometimes you have judges that want to make an example out of you and sometimes you get that star treatment. I think it’s just a matter of who is making the decision as the judge at the time.”
Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. An archive of his work can be found here, and he can be reached at Trimond@aol.com
