Jesse Reid trained Roger Mayweather from his pro debut all the way throughout the entire 1980s and was the coach in the Black Mamba’s corner both times he became a world champion.
The last fight Reid cornered Mayweather, against Julio Cesar Chavez a second time in 1989 at The Forum in Los Angeles, Reid didn’t even make it out of the fight. He was thrown out of the bout by referee Hank Elespuru just as the seventh round finished when he walked into the ring, grabbed Chavez as he was still throwing punches after the bell and drove him across the canvas.
After the 10th round, Mayweather quit on his stool, and Reid ended up quitting Mayweather shortly after that.
“I’d never seen Roger quit in a fight,” Reid told BoxingScene.com in an interview, days after Mayweather died earlier this week at the age of 58 after a yearslong battle with diabetes. “I was very upset with him. Roger was in top shape for that fight. When they kicked me out of the corner, I felt like he thought he couldn’t win anymore.
“I was in his face a lot. Roger had a lot of nasty habits, but he grew up later on in life. He learned a lot of lessons from the mistakes he made. Roger was a very smart boxing guy. Man, he had a punch.”
Before they split, Reid, who’s also led the careers for the likes of Johnny Tapia, enjoyed plenty of success with Mayweather.
Mayweather racked up 59 wins, 25 of those victories via knockout, and also had 13 losses in a career that spanned from 1981 through 1999. He won his first world title in 1983 with a TKO win over Samuel Serrano for the WBA super featherweight crown in Serrano’s home country of Puerto Rico.
“No one thought we could win that fight, but us. Roger was in great condition and he destroyed Serrano. That was the start of Roger being great,” said Reid, who trained Austin Trout to a win earlier this year. “But from there on, he found the fast life and had fun and got a little lazy.”
Reid said he gained the respect of Mayweather because he would challenge and call out the fighter for his shortcomings, including hitting a woman. Mayweather was arrested on charges of coercion with force and battery strangulation on Melissa St. Vil, a female boxer he trained, in 2009.
One of Mayweather’s other shortcomings was his lack of discipline, said Reid.
“He wouldn't run. When he fought Rocky Lockridge in 1984, he ran only once that camp and Rocky knocked him out in the first round. Roger got hurt when he didn’t train. When he trained, he was as good as Floyd,” said Reid. “When he came back for the second time with me, he trained harder than he ever did.”
In the ring, Reid is proud that he kept Mayweather in shape and perfected his up jab, and how to work angles off the right hand and back foot.
When Mayweather called it a career, he shifted his focus to training his nephew in Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“He’ll be remembered as a better trainer, but he was a great fighter,” said Reid. “When he was working with Floyd late in his career, he once said on HBO’s “24/7” ‘the only white man I respect is Jesse Reid.’ I called him and said, ‘Roger, I’m coming to Vegas to give you a hug. You grew up!’ He never wanted to give a white man credit for anything. He didn’t respect a white man coming from where he did in Detroit and the toughness about him. But he respected me, and that was a big reward. I was really proud of him. He did a magnificent job of training Floyd.”
Reid also remembered a six-round sparring session, when his fighter at the time in former IBF lightweight titlist Paul Spadafora (49-1-1, 19 KOs), beat up a prime Floyd in the gym.
“He kicked his ass. We beat him up pretty good. Floyd was out of condition,” Reid said of Mayweather, who was a lightweight titlist at the time as well. “That’s when Floyd fired his dad and hired Roger. Roger told me, ‘thank you Jesse. You just got me a job!’ Floyd was never out of shape after that like again.”
In their later years, Reid said he and Roger still maintained a relationship, just as the former champion’s health was in decline.
“We had a really good friendship. He was great and was always a gentleman with me,” said Reid. “When I had him as a fighter, he wasn’t always that way. As he got older, he became a better human being. Down deep in Roger, there was a really kind person, even though he didn’t show it much as a fighter. He respected me a lot. He said that ‘I knew boxing.’”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist and member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011. He has written for the likes of the LA Times, Guardian, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Men’s Health and NFL.com and currently does TV commentary for combat sports programming that airs on Fox Sports and hosts his own radio show in Los Angeles. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com.