It was reported in USA Today that Floyd Mayweather, Sr. is not going to train his son for the May 5 showdown with Oscar De La Hoya in Las Vegas.
Roger Mayweather, the uncle of Floyd Jr., was released on Monday from a Nevada jail after serving time for battery. There was a big question as to which family member would take the role as head trainer for the De La Hoya bout. Mayweather, Sr. has been helping train his son for the last two weeks, but will now be replaced by his brother Roger, who normally trains his son. Floyd Sr. does not expect to be in his son’s corner on May 5.
“When he got to the gym, we picked up where we left off and things were back to normal,” said Mayweather Jr. “I never thought to pick someone else to train me, as I truly believe that my uncle is the best in boxing.”
Several weeks ago, Mayweather Sr. was knocked out from one corner of the ring when Oscar De La Hoya declined to use him for the May 5 clash with his son, and instead hired Freddie Roach. Mayweather, who trained De La Hoya for the last seven years, was very bitter over being replaced by Roach and claims that De La Hoya was too cheap to pay his demand of $2 million dollars to train him. De La Hoya says that he was not comfortable with the scenario of using Floyd Sr. against his own son.
Now, Floyd Sr. is knocked out from the other corner, but in this case he is taking it very well. He told USA Today that he is not mad at his son and understands why his brother Roger needs to be the head trainer.
“Roger was the last one training him, so I guess they’re going back to their past,” Mayweather Sr. said. “I trained my son the last couple of weeks. I showed him a few things. But that was just me as a father. I came to support my son. People say things, and people do things. But I’ve got no problem with my son. He called to tell me Roger was training him again, and I can respect that. The message he left was all positive. He said, ‘I love you, you’re a great trainer and I know we’ve had our differences, but I hope we can be father and son.’ At the end of the day, our relationship is the most important thing. That’s bigger than the fight.”
