30 little-known facts about Floyd Mayweather Jr.

25. Mayweather’s father, Floyd Sr., saw his promising ring career derailed

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has had, to put it mildly, a volatile relationship with his father, Floyd Sr. (28-6-1, 17 KOs) — a former fighter and drug dealer who has experienced the highs of guiding his prodigious son to world championship glory and the lows of total estrangement from his prized progeny. In fact, Floyd Sr.’s controversial actions with his son started long before Junior ever rose to prominence in boxing.

In a 2013 piece on Bleacher Report, Jonathan Snowden, citing a variety of sources from the L.A. Times to Rolling Stone, outlined the history of violence in the Mayweather family and how it impacted Floyd Jr. When Junior was a mere two-years-old, Floyd Sr., staring down the barrel of a shotgun, held up his son as a human shield, stating, “If you’re going to kill me, you’re going to kill the baby, too.”

Floyd Sr. claimed that he wasn’t intentionally sacrificing his son and that his ploy worked; his assailant, Tony Sinclair (aka Baboon), redirected his shotgun at Senior’s leg. Here’s an excerpt from Snowden’s piece:

"The buckshot destroyed Floyd Sr.’s leg, taking off much of his left calf. The injury drastically altered his boxing career, limiting his movement and forcing a complete alteration of his carefully honed tactics. Once promising, he suddenly found himself little more than a journeyman. He continued fighting until 1985, but money, never in abundance, became scarce."

Prior to the shooting, Floyd Sr. had flashed his considerable talent in a TKO loss to a then-13-0 Sugar Ray Leonard. But without effective promotional and managerial backing, not to mention the lure and quick rewards of a felonious lifestyle, Floyd Sr. never fulfilled his potential, failing to win even a minor title as a pro; his struggles with his son, though, have been even more pronounced, although their 2013 reconciliation has led to another stretch of effective boxing partnership.