Mayweather Sr: Roger didn’t teach Floyd Jr. anything; I taught him everything

By Boxing News - 09/01/2011 - Comments

Image: Mayweather Sr: Roger didn't teach Floyd Jr. anything; I taught him everythingBy Chris Williams: Recently Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his father Floyd Sr. had a disagreement that was caught by the television crew on HBO’s Mayweather-Ortiz 24/7 episode 1 in which Mayweather took exception with his father Floyd Sr. taking some credit for some of the success that Mayweather Jr. has received in boxing.

What resulted was Mayweather angrily telling his father that uncle Roger Mayweather was the one that taught him how to fight. Floyd Jr. then kicked Floyd Sr. out of the gym, which was all caught by HBO’s film crew unfortunately.

Mayweather Sr., speaking with eastsideboxing.com’s On the Ropes Boxing Radio Program, said “His uncle Roger never taught him s***. His daddy taught him everything. His uncle Roger ain’t taught him s***, and he knows nothing about defense. He learned everything from his daddy, and like I said before I trained him when he was a little kid when he won the first national tournament…the defense that he uses is the defense that I taught him -the shoulder roll. Roger didn’t teach him that. Roger didn’t ever fight like that.”

Floyd Sr. is right. He trained Mayweather Jr. long before Roger did and only was replaced after going away to prison for a third year stretch. Mayweather Jr. continued to fight exactly how he was taught by his father and continues to this day. If you watch Roger’s old fights when he was fighting professionally, he was a pure right hand slugger with little defensive skills compared to Floyd Sr. He was easy to hit and didn’t have the same upper body movements that Floyd Sr. used. Roger didn’t throw a check left hook. That was Floyd Sr. He had an excellent short left hook that he threw with a lot of power, and used defensive moves that Floyd Jr. mimics to this day. However, both Floyd Sr. and Roger where much bigger punchers than Mayweather Jr., especially Roger. He could really punch with his right hand. If he had better defensive skills he would have been a great one. But as far as who was the one that made Mayweather Jr. what he is today, I think hands down it’s Mayweather Sr. that taught him pretty much everything he knows.



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