LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Floyd Mayweather Jr. surrendered in a courtroom Friday to begin a three-month jail sentence for attacking his ex-girlfriend in September 2010 while two of their children watched.
Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Melissa Saragosa credited the undefeated five-division champion with attending weekly domestic violence counseling sessions ? including one the day of the May 5 fight she allowed him to make ? and with beginning to meet community service requirements she imposed in December. The judge then watched as Mayweather was handcuffed and taken away. Mayweather didn’t say a word.
“He’ll be all right,” Mayweather’s friend, rapper 50 Cent, told reporters after arriving with Mayweather and speaking afterward with ring adviser Leonard Ellerbe outside the courthouse in downtown Las Vegas.
“It’s an uncomfortable situation for everyone,” he said.
Ellerbe declined to comment.
Mayweather pleaded guilty in December to reduced domestic battery charges in a hair-pulling, arm-twisting attack on Josie Harris, the mother of three of his children. The plea deal allowed him to avoid trial on felony charges that could have gotten Mayweather up to 34 years in prison if he was convicted.
“Everyone has a different version of the same story,” said 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III. He compared the dispute between Mayweather and Harris to the breakup of a marriage with children involved. Harris and their three children now live in Southern California.
“It’s no different than anyone going through a divorce,” the rap star said, “and how your friends can become your vested enemies.”
Las Vegas police say that as a high-profile inmate, Mayweather probably will serve most of his time away from other prisoners in a small solo cell in the high-rise Clark County Detention Center.
Police released a statement Thursday saying visitation at the jail will be suspended Saturday for “inmate reclassification and housing changes.” Officer Bill Cassell, a department spokesman, said the expected 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. lockout was not related to Mayweather’s arrival.
Mayweather, who goes by the nickname “Money,” apparently enjoyed some pampering Thursday while preparing for his jail stint. He posted an image Thursday on Facebook and Instagram showing him getting a pedicure. The caption read, “At home enjoying my day.”
In jail, he’ll have a cell about one-third the size of a small boxing ring. For at least the first week, Mayweather will be segregated for his protection from the other 3,200 inmates in the downtown Las Vegas facility, Cassell said.
Mayweather won’t have a TV in his cell, and Cassell said televisions in jail dining areas probably won’t carry the June 9 pay-per-view WBO welterweight fight between Mayweather rival Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley at the MGM Grand Garden arena.
The judge sentenced Mayweather on Dec. 22, then later allowed him to remain free long enough to make the Cinco de Mayo weekend fight and a guaranteed $32 million. Opponent Miguel Cotto was paid $8 million.
Saragosa said when she sentenced Mayweather that she was particularly troubled that he threatened and hit Harris while their two sons watched. The boys were 10 and 8 at the time. The older boy ran out a back door to get a security guard in the gated community.
Mayweather pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic battery and no contest to two harassment charges.
Prosecutors dropped felony robbery, coercion, and grand larceny charges stemming from allegations that he threatened the boys and took cellphones from Harris and his son.
The misdemeanor conviction was one of several since 2002 for Mayweather in battery and violence cases in Las Vegas and in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Mich.
As part of his plea deal in the domestic battery case, he pleaded no contest and paid a $1,000 fine for a November 2010 scuffle with a homeowner association security guard in an argument about parking tickets.
He was acquitted last October of misdemeanor allegations that he threatened two homeowner association security guards during a separate parking ticket argument.
He was acquitted by a Nevada jury in July 2005 after being accused of hitting and kicking Harris during an argument outside a Las Vegas nightclub, and he received a suspended one-year jail sentence and was ordered to undergo impulse-control counseling after his conviction in 2002 of misdemeanor battery in another nightclub fight with two women.
He was fined in Grand Rapids in February 2005 and ordered to perform community service after pleading no contest to misdemeanor assault and battery for a bar fight.
Mayweather also faces a civil lawsuit in Las Vegas from two men who allege he orchestrated a shooting attack on them outside a skating rink in 2009. Police have never accused Mayweather of firing shots and he has never been criminally charged in the case.
Mayweather’s jail stay will be capped at 87 days, because the judge gave him credit for three days previously served. It could be reduced by several weeks for good behavior, Cassell said.
Mayweather also was ordered to complete the yearlong domestic violence counseling program, 100 hours of community service and pay a $2,500 fine.
His lawyer, Karen Winckler, said Mayweather has paid the fine.
Mayweather’s standard administrative segregation cell will have a bunk, stainless steel toilet and sink, a steel and wood desk with a permanently bolted stool and two small vertical windows with opaque safety glass.
The 7-by-12-foot cell will be a far cry from Mayweather’s nearly 12,800-square-foot, two-story mansion on a cul de sac in an exclusive guarded community several miles south of the Las Vegas Strip. Mayweather’s home has two garages, five bedrooms, eight bathrooms, and a swimming pool and hot tub overlooking a golf course.
Mayweather could have about an hour a day out of his cell with access to an exercise yard, Cassell said. Depending on his behavior, the boxer could later get several hours a day for exercise with other inmates also being held in protective custody.
He’ll wear a standard-issue blue jail jumpsuit with the letters CCDC and orange slippers. Mayweather will be able to deposit money into a jail account to purchase snacks, soap and personal hygiene items from the jail commissary.
Tarver, Wright won’t give up title dreams after 40
CARSON, Calif. (AP) ? Antonio Tarver loves good food, golf and his job as a commentator on Showtime’s boxing telecasts. His comfortable home life in Tampa gives him innumerable reasons to forget about fighting and just revel in the onset of middle age.
Yet here’s the 43-year-old former light heavyweight champion still sweating it out in a gym south of Los Angeles. He’s preparing to fight cruiserweight Lateef Kayode, an undefeated title contender and ferocious puncher who’s 14 years younger than him, with his eye on a heavyweight title shot in the near future.
Tarver (29-6, 20 KOs) knows he could walk away from boxing, and he has plenty of places to go. He won’t do it, not while there’s still a chance of championship glory and big-money fights.
“I want to do something great,” Tarver said. “I think I’ve done a lot of great things in boxing, but I want to do something that no one can deny how good a fighter I was. I think there’s a lot of question marks out there. They still can’t see me, and I think defeating one of the Klitschko brothers, my place would be undeniable in boxing history.”
Tarver’s bout with Kayode (18-0, 14 KOs) tops a stacked card at Carson’s Home Depot Center on Saturday night featuring two ostensible gatekeepers planning to slam that door on two unbeaten youngsters.
Tarver is joined by Winky Wright, his fellow over-40 former champion and Tampa-area fighter, who’s returning from a three-year layoff against unbeaten middleweight Peter Quillin. Austin Trout, the WBA’s 154-pound champion, also defends his belt against Delvin Rodriguez, while Leo Santa Cruz fights South Africa’s Vusi Maligna for the vacant IBF bantamweight belt.
Tarver fought just once in 2010 and 2011, scaling back his career after consecutive losses to Chad Dawson. After winning an Olympic medal, 29 pro fights and several belts, Tarver realized he needed a new goal to overcome the lure of retirement: He wants a heavyweight title shot against a Klitschko brother, and he realizes a strong performance against Kayode is vital.
“They’re running out of opponents,” Tarver said. “They don’t have any credible opponents left, man. … I want a Klitschko before they want to see me lose a step or two, because right now, I’m still dangerous, and it don’t seem like they want no danger.”
Tarver has resisted the lure of retirement so far, but he has tasted life after boxing. He acknowledges gaining significant amounts of weight between fights, partly due to his hectic travel schedule for television, but said he recently made a pact with himself “to never get out of shape again in my life.”
“I’m not a monk,” Tarver said. “I’m a human being, and I like the finer things in life. I like to enjoy my life. Why do all this if you can’t enjoy it? I’m not going to try to say that I’m some angel, but I don’t do anything crazy. I like to eat. I’m a food connoisseur. A lot of times, you’ve got to treat yourself. I’m not going to sit here and say I’ve never had a candy bar. My whole thing is when I’m in that ring, I know I’m 100 percent ready.”
Tarver hasn’t fought in 11 months ? but compared to Wright (51-5-1, 25 KOs), Tarver is a model of consistency and perseverance.
The former middleweight king has fought just once since losing to Bernard Hopkins way back in July 2007. Wright’s only fight in his late 30s was a one-sided decision loss to Paul Williams in April 2009, with the defense-oriented boxer claiming he couldn’t get any bouts with enough importance or remuneration to coax him back into the ring.
Wright planned to return last year, but pulled out of a bout with Matthew Macklin with a hand injury shortly after acknowledging he was finding it tough to get back into fighting shape. He finally accepted a bout with Quillin (26-0, 20 KOs), a Brooklyn-based prospect who has stopped his last five opponents.
“I thought if I wanted to get back in the ring, I had to do it, and do it now,” said Wright, who built his career on his willingness to fight anyone in any location. “I just turned 40, so if I’m going to do this, I have to do it. I’m not coming back just to fight and get a win. I want to fight the best. I want to be champion. If I can’t be champion, there’s no reason to do this.”
Tarver added spice to his own bout from his position on Showtime, criticizing Kayode while commenting on his recent fights. The comments angered the younger fighter, who has repeatedly confronted Tarver about it in flashes of the impulsiveness that worried Kayode’s trainer, Freddie Roach.
Tarver laughs it off and focuses on his own career ? specifically that lucrative shot he covets against a Klitschko. Tarver, who fought at heavyweight in 2010, believes he could be on the verge of a career-defining achievement after getting past Kayode.
“I don’t want to break George Foreman’s record,” Tarver said, recalling the 45-year-old Foreman’s heavyweight title victory over Michael Moorer in 1994. “I know I have only a small window of opportunity to realize my goal of becoming heavyweight champion. I want that fight to happen sooner than later, and I know I can get it done because of my talent, my skills and my ability.”
— Greg Beacham
Williams has surgery to stabilize spine
ATLANTA (AP) ? Former welterweight champion Paul Williams’ promoter says the boxer is resting Friday night following surgery to stabilize his spine. Promoter Dan Goossen said the surgery lasted 6 1/2 hours Friday night.
Goossen said the surgery “went as planned” and doctors said they would talk with Williams about the procedure on Saturday.
The 30-year-old Williams severed his spinal cord when he was thrown from his motorcycle Sunday morning in Marietta, Ga. Police said he was driving too fast for conditions.
Williams’ manager, George Peterson, said the former welterweight champion has no movement from the waist down.
Known as “The Punisher,” Williams is from Aiken, S.C. He had been scheduled to fight Sept. 15 in Las Vegas against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
Williams won his first major welterweight title in July 2007 by beating Antonio Margarito.
Goossen said Williams has been talking and in good spirits as he predicted he would walk again. Williams told Ringtv.com his message to his fans is, “I’m blessed.
“To be conscious and alive and all of that,” Williams said. “To know what’s going on. I’ve got a little spine injury, or whatever. But they’re working on that. But to be able to be breathing on my own … I feel real good and I love the support that I’ve been getting from my fans.”
— Charles Odum
