Ring perfect Floyd still pursuing that quality in his personal life

It’s impossible to improve upon perfect, but when the subject is Floyd Mayweather Jr., the normal rules don’t apply.

Mayweather Sr. and Roger Mayweather are both volatile personalities who have gone back and forth at each other over the years. Roger Mayweather isn’t thrilled to not be in his nephew’s corner on Saturday – Mayweather Jr. says it’s because his uncle’s diabetes causes him vision problems – but he hasn’t blasted his brother, at his nephew’s request.

“I want what is best for Floyd [Jr.],” Roger Mayweather said. “That’s his father. If he wants his father, then he should have his father up there with him. It ain’t no big thing.”

Mayweather Sr. has resisted taking shots at his brother and at Leonard Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather Promotions, who will be the third person in the corner Saturday, also at his son’s direction. It’s led to one of the most harmonious camps of Mayweather’s professional career. When he started, he had his father and his two uncles, Roger and Jeff Mayweather, in his corner. For the Guerrero fight, all three were part of the camp and in the gym, though Jeff Mayweather didn’t have an official role.

But Jeff Mayweather said he believes his nephew’s attitude change has him primed for an elite performance.

“I think we’re going to see a brilliant performance, like some of the best ones he’s had in his career,” Jeff Mayweather said. “He’s a lot stronger now, and he’s had a very good, very smart camp. You can just see everything falling into place.

“There’s not the friction and the distractions that have been around in the past. This is like the perfect ending to Floyd’s career. It’s come full circle. The prodigal son has come back and he’s back with his dad, where it all started. Little Floyd forced his dad to accept Roger in order to be a part of the team. Everyone is doing their job and getting along.”

The younger Mayweather asked that a seat not be saved for his father on the dais for Wednesday’s final news conference at the MGM Grand. It wasn’t because they’d had some late dispute, but because Mayweather Jr. recognized his father has a short temper and expected Guerrero’s father/trainer to try to incite him. In order to avoid trouble, Mayweather Jr. felt it wise to keep his father off the dais and away from a microphone, where he couldn’t be tempted to get into a dispute with Ruben Guerrero.

Mayweather Sr. accepted the decision and didn’t create a fuss. And while he’s had some wild public disputes with his son, it was always obvious he adores his son and reveled in his success.

As the men have matured, they’ve come to value the relationship more.
“He’s much better to be around now,” Mayweather Sr. told the New York Daily News. “He’s more calm. It just seems like he’s much more productive with his time. He’s real pleasant to talk to now. I would have to say that he’s changed a lot of things about himself. The Lord above is looking down on him and on me. He’s touched him and let him know that he needs his daddy.”

He’s trying to do the right things, in the ring and in his personal life. Ellerbe said Mayweather Jr. has taken great strides to improve his familial bonds, particularly with his father. Mayweather Jr. laments the fact that his time in jail forced him to miss, among other things, his daughter’s birthday.

That birthday celebration is something he’ll never get back, so he plans to do everything in his power to not miss any special days again.

“Jail is no place to be,” Mayweather said. He vowed never to return, the same vow light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins made almost a quarter century ago after being paroled from a Pennsylvania prison following a stint on a strong-arm robbery conviction.

Hopkins turned his life around and became not only one of the greatest boxers to have ever lived, but a model citizen. Hopkins said Mayweather has the personal makeup to be the same way.

“It takes a lot of discipline to change whatever it was that was going on in your life, but Floyd has that kind of discipline,” Hopkins said.
Mayweather has always been disciplined in his boxing career and that’s led to a perfect record and an astronomical balance in the checking account.

But here he is, a superstar of the highest magnitude, almost 17 years into his boxing career, and in many ways, it’s as if he’s starting over.