LEGENDARY boxing trainer Jeff Mayweather says his famous family name can be both a blessing and a curse.
Mayweather is the uncle of multiple world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr., who has made a lucrative career thanks to his brash and braggadocious personality.
The 59-year-old is also highly respected in the boxing fraternity as the trainer of multiple world champions, including Sultan Ibragimov, Celestino Caballero and, for a short period, Floyd Jr.
But Mayweather says that he is often misjudged and presumed to be arrogant simply because his brother Floyd Sr. and nephew Floyd Jr. are both supremely self-confident.
“It has its perks and bad sides,” Mayweather tells The U.S. Sun about his family name.
“The perks are when you go to fights, you are highly respected.
“The other side of it is a lot of times people judge you because… myself I deal with everybody the same way, I treat people how I want to be treated…
“But the one thing is this…automatically just because you have a name [people think] it makes you arrogant.
“A lot of times people misjudge you and that’s happened to me.
“Mostly anybody in boxing who knows me knows that I am one of the nicest people you will meet in boxing.”
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Mayweather has been training for over 30 years and his current protégé is Joseph Brown, who had a 67-0 record as an amateur.
He has also just signed up to be a trainer for Las Vegas Hustle in Season 2 of the upstart Team Combat League.
TCL is boxing’s first squad-based format, consisting of six teams that compete against each other in five male weight classes and one female class.
Matches consist of 18 three-minute rounds featuring a different fighter each round.
“I think it’s great and it has its own lane,” Mayweather says of TCL.
“I used to train [Las Vegas Hustle head coach and president] Dewey Cooper. He asked me if I wanted to [get involved].
“Me and Dewey have a great relationship and he appreciated me…I trained him for years.
“I guess this was his way of saying, ‘This is something I can do for you’.”
Mayweather is currently in tryouts for the next season of the mixed-gender league.
“As of right now, I’m just waiting on people to show up and take a chance to make the team,” he says.
“They don’t have to be famous or anything like that. I’m looking for the best fighter that can fight one round!”
Mayweather is confident that Floyd Jr. will defeat John Gotti III in an exhibition fight rematch in Las Vegas in February after their first contest ended in chaos.
“I think the part of it being chaotic is why they are having a rematch because controversy sells,” he added.
“I think that is why the fight is happening again. I think the result will be the same.
“I think Showtime wants to have a show with that controversy that builds the fight and sells the fight.”
Floyd Jr. is still going strong aged 46 – and Mayweather believes his famous nephew can keep competing until he is 50.
“As long as he’s doing exhibitions, I think he can do it until he’s 50,” he said.
“He trains extremely hard so just because of his age, it doesn’t deter his talent.
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“And he’s one of the greatest fighters in the history of boxing.
“He’s not going to fight a real fighter that’s active in the pros – he’s too smart for that.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
