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Mailbag: Floyd Sr. faces a different foe
By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports
4 hours, 26 minutes ago
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Floyd Mayweather Sr. was unusually solemn Saturday after helping Ricky Hatton to an 11th round technical knockout victory over Paulie Malignaggi in their super lightweight bout at the MGM Grand Garden.
The colorful boxing trainer has never met a camera or a tape recorder that he doesn’t like, but after most reporters had left the media center on Saturday, he turned down the volume and was far less outrageous than the public persona he portrays.
He said he plans to continue to train boxers for no more than two years, and perhaps as little as just another year, as he battles the disease sarcoidosis.
Though Mayweather Sr. considers his greatest gift his ability to teach young boxers, he said he isn’t interesting in taking on a challenge like that at this stage of his life.
“I just don’t have the time to do that now,” Mayweather Sr., 56, said.
According to the Sarcoidosis Research Institute’s web site, it is “a complex disease for which the cause and cure are unknown. Sarcoidosis involves inflammation that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body. The lumps are called granulomas because under the microscope they look like grains of sugar or sand. When these granulomas invade the body they can cause permanent damage to the affected organ.”
Mayweather said his lungs are affected and that physical exertion often exacerbates his condition. He said he’s not looking for a large group of boxers to train, nor does he want to try to teach a young fighter from scratch.
“I’m going to see how it goes,” said Mayweather, who taught his son, one-time pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr., the basics of the game at an early age. “But I know it’s not going to be long. I am pretty sure I’m not going to be doing this more than two years. This lung disease is what I have to worry about.”
As we wish Mayweather the best of luck and health in his fight against sarcoidosis, we’ll now turn our attention to reader questions and comments in this week’s edition of the boxing mailbag.
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