Currently, Mayweather is the WBC Welterweight Champion. He is also rated as the best pound for pound boxer in the world by most sporting news and boxing websites, including Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Fox Sports, Yahoo! Sports and About.com.
Amateur career and Olympics
Mayweather had an amateur record of 84–6[14] and won national Golden Gloves championships in 1993 (at 106 lb), 1994 (at 114 lb) and 1996 (at 125 lb).[15] He was given the nickname "Pretty Boy" by his amateur teammates because he had relatively few scars, a result of the defensive techniques that his father (Floyd Mayweather, Sr.) and uncle (Roger Mayweather) had taught him. In his orthodox defensive stance, Mayweather often utilizes the 'shoulder roll'. The shoulder roll is an old-school boxing technique in which the right hand is held normally or slightly higher than normal, the left hand is down around the midsection and the lead shoulder is raised high on the cheek in order to cover the chin and block punches. The right hand (from orthodox stance) is used as it normally would be to block punches coming from the other side, such as left hooks. From this stance, Mayweather blocks, slips and deflects most of his opponents' punches, even when cornered, by twisting left and right to the rhythm of their punches.[At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Mayweather won a bronze medal by reaching the semi-finals of the featherweight (57 kg) division.
In the opening round, Mayweather led 10–1 on points over Bakhtiyar Tileganov of Kazakhstan before he won in Round 2 by referee stoppage. In the second round, Mayweather outpointed Artur Gevorgyan of Armenia 16–3. In the quarterfinals, the 19-year-old Mayweather, narrowly defeated the 22-year-old Lorenzo Aragon of Cuba in an all-action bout to win 12–11, becoming the first U.S boxer to defeat a Cuban in 20 years. The last time this had occurred was at 1976 Summer Olympics when the U.S Olympic boxing team captured five gold medals, among its recipients was boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard. In his semifinal bout against the eventual silver medalist, Serafim Todorov of Bulgaria, Mayweather lost by a controversial decision, similarly to the Roy Jones Jr.'s decision. Referee, Hamad Hafaz Shouman of Egypt, mistakenly raised Mayweather's hand, thinking he had won, as the decision was announced giving the bout to the Bulgarian.
The U.S team filed a protest over the Mayweather bout, claiming the judges were intimidated by Bulgaria's Emil Jetchev, head of the boxing officials, into favoring Bulgarian Serafim Todorov by a 10–9 decision in the 125-pound semifinal bout. Three of Jetchev's countrymen were in gold medal bouts. Judge Bill Waeckerle, one of the four U.S judges working the games for the International Amateur Boxing Federation, quit both as an Olympic judge and as a federation judge after Mayweather lost a decision loudly booed by the crowd at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
"I refuse to be part of an organisation that continues to conduct its officiating in this manner," Waeckerle wrote in a letter of resignation to federation President Anwar Chowdhry.
In the official protest, U.S team manager Gerald Smith said Mayweather landed punches that were not counted, while Todorov was given points without landing a punch. "The judging was totally incompetent," Waeckerle said. The judges failed to impose a mandatory two-point deduction against Todorov after he was warned five times by the referee for slapping.
"Everybody knows Floyd Mayweather is the gold-medal favorite at 57 kilograms," Mayweather said afterward. "In America, it's known as 125 pounds. You know and I know I wasn't getting hit. They say he's the world champion. Now you all know who the real world champion is."
Qualification as a Featherweight for the United States Olympic Team.
Defeated William Jenkins RSC/TKO-3
Defeated James Baker RSCH/TKO-1
Lost to Augie Sanchez PTS (11–12)
Defeated Carlos Navarro PTS (31–11)
Defeated Augie Sanchez PTS (12–8) at the Box-offs
Defeated Augie Sanchez PTS (20–10) at the Box-offs
Olympic Results
Defeated Bakhtiyar Tileganov (Kazakhstan) RSCI/TKO-2
Defeated Artur Gevorgyan (Armenia) PTS (16–3)
Defeated Lorenzo Aragon (Cuba) PTS (12–11)
Lost to Serafim Todorov (Bulgaria) PTS (9–10)
Titles in boxing
Major World Titles:- WBC Super Featherweight Champion (130 lbs)
- WBC Lightweight Champion (135 lbs)
- WBC Light Welterweight Champion (140 lbs)
- IBF Welterweight Champion (147 lbs)
- WBC Welterweight Champion (147 lbs)
- WBC Light Middleweight Champion (154 lbs)
- (2) WBC Welterweight Champion (147 lbs)
- WBA Light Middleweight Champion (154 lbs)
- IBO Welterweight Champion (147 lbs)
- IBA Welterweight Champion (147 lbs)
- Lineal Super Featherweight Champion (130 lbs)
- The Ring Lightweight Champion (135 lbs)
- The Ring Welterweight Champion (147 lbs)
- WBC Emeritus Light Middleweight Champion (154 lbs)
