Floyd Mayweather's first steps in the professional ring

Floyd Mayweather's first steps in the professional ring

The boxer who started his career with a bang

Floyd Mayweather is one of the most successful boxers in the world. The Michigan native played 50 professional games between 1996 and 2015, plus one appearance in 2017 as well. two years after his resignation. In those 50 fights, he is undefeated, and 27 of his wins have come by way of knockout. Mayweather also holds 15 major world titles in four categories – super featherweight, lightweight, featherweight and light middleweight.

In the following lines, however, we will not talk about the entire career of the "beautiful boy", but we will recall his debut match, as well as the first steps in the sport of one of the greatest.

Even in his amateur years, Mayweather drew attention to himself, after having 84 wins and 8 losses, and in addition, he also grabbed the bronze at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 in the featherweight category.

His first match in the professional ring was precisely in the Olympic year. The date is October 11, 1996, and the opponent of the 19-year-old American is another debutant in professional boxing - the Mexican Roberto Apodaca. The match, which is in the format of 4 rounds, ends already in the 37th second of the second part, in which Mayweather recorded the first of 27 knockout victories in his professional career. Already in the first round, Floyd knocked down his opponent, who was on his knees after 2 minutes and 16 seconds of the start, and in the entire first part, the American managed to deliver 30 of the 60 blows he directed at Apodaca. The Mexican responds with only two. After 30 seconds of the start of the second round, Mayweather dropped his opponent again with a left hook and the referee decided to stop the match without even counting to 10.

The rest is history, but in his early years as a pro, Mayweather reaped success and plenty of accolades. For his first 14 bouts in the pro ring, he was trained by his uncle Roger, as his father was still in prison, but after a victory over Sam Girard, again by knockout in the second round, his father took over the training process of the fighter.

Called by commentators the most talented, predictions that Mayweather will become the best boxer in the world raise the bar very high. In the first two years, he won most of his matches by knockout or TKO. It is no coincidence that trainer and commentator Jill Clancy says that even during the Olympic Games in Atlanta, he thought that this boxer had a huge future.

Only two years in the pro ring turned out to be enough for Mayweather's first major honor. In 1998, he won the WBC super featherweight world title. His opponent is Gennaro Hernandez, who lost by technical knockout in the eighth round.

Without a doubt, Mayweather's early years as a professional show that we are in for a great and memorable career. Described as fast, smart and knowing how to exploit his opponents' weaknesses, Floyd racked up win after win and knocked out opponent after opponent.

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