Floyd Mayweather was so spiteful and vicious at the start of his career he sent journeyman Jerry Cooper through the ropes in his third pro fight – earning just $7,500 in the process
Long before he became ‘Money’, Floyd Mayweather was a spiteful boxer with a nasty streak and a drive to be the best.
Fans from the current generation may well be accustomed to seeing the 50-0 boxer parading his wealth around and flaunting cars, property, jewellery and businesses.
Yet Mayweather was once renowned as ‘Pretty Boy’; a brash brawler with undoubted skills who looked to finish fights with spite and venom.
This was perhaps never better exemplified than in just his third pro fight following his controversial defeat at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta to Serafim Todorov.
Fighting at super-featherweight, Mayweather needed just 25 seconds to land a left jab to the body of journeyman Jerry Cooper, dropping him, as he clowned about and posed.
The gulf in class soon became apparent.
The future five-weight world champion then unloaded a barrage of punches – 27 without reply – once referee Mitch Halpern allowed 23-year-old Cooper to continue, putting him through the ropes and onto the ring apron.
Cooper protested the stoppage, yet Halpern insisted he did not answer him when asked if he was okay to continue after the vicious onslaught from Mayweather.
Interestingly enough, Mayweather earned just $7,500 for the 1997 clash, a far cry from the nine figures he earned in the later stages of his career – including a minimum $100million (£74m) for facing Conor McGregor in his final fight.
However, he has come under scrutiny from Logan Paul for allegedly not paying the YouTube star for their exhibition bout back in June 2021.
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