David Mayo says Floyd in "TROUBLE, BIG TROUBLE"

Floyd Mayweather's fight for freedom could be his last, and felony charges have him on the ropes Published: Thursday, September 16, 2010, 8:45 PM David Mayo | The Grand Rapids Press Floyd Mayweather stands accused of eight criminal counts today, four of them felonies, and Manny Pacquiao suddenly isn't his most important potential fight anymore, not with a real fight for his freedom at hand. A court date is scheduled Nov. 9 and if prosecutors have enough of a case to make even one of the felony charges stick, Mayweather will spend a minimum of one year in a Nevada state prison. If the authorities really nail the champion boxer -- and given the depth of the charges, that seems the clear initial intent in the state where O.J. Simpson is serving nine to 33 years for armed robbery, conspiracy and kidnapping -- the maximum penalty for a felony robbery conviction is 15 years. Mayweather may never fight again, and even if he does, his carefully crafted pay-per-view machine has been left dented and sputtering by the events of last week, with his children allegedly watching as he beat their mother, all as their father, a historically great fighter, threatened them with same. All that stuff about Mayweather deserving more money and being in position to hold out and make Pacquiao squirm and spin, because of his superior domestic marketability? Regardless what happens now, that kind of leg-up negotiating position has vanished, assuming Pacquiao -- a Filipino congressman -- even wants to risk sullying his image by accepting such a fight. Two of the felony counts the Clark County (Nev.) district attorney's office levied against Mayweather on Thursday are for coercion, for allegedly threatening to beat his 10-year-old son. Koraun Mayweather told police he witnessed his father beating his mother before running from the house, jumping a security fence and reporting the issue to a security guard. The other two felony charges against Mayweather, for grand larceny and robbery, are for allegedly entering Josie Harris' home without permission in the early-morning hours of Sept. 9, then taking her cell phone and beating her. Coercion carries a penalty of one to six years, grand larceny one to five years, and robbery two to 15 years in Nevada. At the least, Floyd Mayweather's negotiating power for future fights and pay-per-view image have taken a serious hit. The charges are stacked and Mayweather is on the ropes in a fashion no one ever put him there literally, not Jose Luis Castillo in the only disputed decision of his career, and not Shane Mosley, who had Mayweather clinging to avoid a knockdown in the Grand Rapids native’s last fight. Nevada has pursued and convicted Mayweather some, pursued and had him acquitted last time, and investigated him without bringing charges on many more occasions. Prosecutors went hard after him this time, with a police report detailing an eyewitness account from his own son and in which Harris, after admitting to Mayweather that she is seeing another man, said she was assaulted and beaten by the boxer, who threatened to “kill you and the man you are messing around with.” Police were summoned to the residence twice that night because of disagreements between Harris and Mayweather, the first time at 3 a.m., when the boxer left without significant incident, then again about two hours later when Harris said he woke her and confronted her about the other man. Harris said all of their children witnessed the incident and she filed a temporary protection order in family court the same day as the alleged altercation. Under Nevada law, police could not arrest Mayweather on suspicion of domestic battery more than 24 hours after the incident, so he was not charged with that offense until the district attorney's office took up the case and directly approved the additional criminal charge. He’s in trouble, big trouble, and the detractors Mayweather always despised -- the “haters,” who always said it’s his destiny to wind up broke or jailed -- have reveled in their I-told-you-so moment. He may never fight again inside the ring. Outside of it, he’d better lace up and wrap tight, because he’s facing a foe far more imposing than he ever has before. http://www.mlive.com/mayweather/index.ssf/2010/09/floyd_mayweathers_fight_for_fr.html