On Wednesday,
WBC welterweight champion and arguably the best boxer in the sport, Floyd
Mayweather Jr. was sentenced to 90 days in jail, 100 hours of community service
and a $2500 fine for a September 2010 domestic violence case, in which he was
accused of entering the home of the mother of his two kids and assaulting her.
Mayweather was sentenced in Clark County Nevada’s courthouse. A day before,
Floyd had agreed to a plea deal, dropping the charges to a domestic violence
misdemeanor while pleading no-contest to two harassment misdemeanors.
With Mayweather scheduled to
serve 90 days (minus three for time served) starting January 6, plans for a May
5 showdown with Manny Pacquiao seem to be on the backburner. While it is
unlikely Mayweather will serve all 90 days, assuming he gets time off for good
behavior, even leaving jail in March would leave little time to prepare for a
Pacquiao fight, much less promote it properly.
Most important here, beyond any
fight, is that Mayweather (who pled guilty in 2002 to two counts of domestic
violence and, in 2004, was found guilty of two counts of misdemeanor battery
for assaulting two women in a Las Vegas night club) is finally doing time for a
crime he has continually repeated. Only in this country, where we seem to value
athletes, celebrities and their reality show wives more than victims like Josie
Harris and her children, can a repeat offender get a mere 90 days of which
he’ll likely serve 65.
As reported by Lance Pugmire of
the L.A. Times, the prosecutor in the
case, Lisa Luzaich, said, “He just continually gets himself into trouble and he
is able to get himself out of it as well. Essentially, it is because he is who
he is and is able to get away with everything. The only thing that's going to
get this man's attention is incarceration.”
According to the complaints
filed against Mayweather, he was alleged to have entered Harris’ home in the
early morning hours because he had heard she was seeing another man. He allegedly
struck Ms. Harris, threatening her life and the lives of their children during
the altercation. Mayweather’s son, 11, apparently escaped and ran to the
security station to get help. That the crimes happened in front of his children
was one reason for his sentencing.
“One unique thing about this
case that I see from any others I see on a regular basis is the extent to which
this happened in front of children old enough to understand what is happening,”
said Judge Melissa Saragosa on a TMZ video broadcast of the hearing. “These were
not infants. These were children in the report listed as 11 and nine years old.
According to the report, an 11-year-old child had to jump over a gate in the
backyard and run to the security station in order to protect his mother from
what was happening. It was also reported that it was not about protecting the
children and getting them away from seeing what was happening. But also when
Mr. Mayweather left the home, he left not just with his belongings; he left
with Ms. Harris’ cell phone and both children’s cell phones. It was fortunate
that they were able to contact security and gain assistance that evening because
there were threats to kill her and ‘make her disappear.’ Things could have
gotten even more out of hand than what they did.”
At age 34, this is another
setback for Mayweather who fought just once this year and was hoping to step up
his activity in the next year. It won’t be in the first quarter of 2012 if he
does.
In a sort of related story,
former Middleweight Champion of the World Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik was arrested
late Wednesday night on suspicion of DUI in Canfield, Ohio. Pavlik was
apparently driving an ATV while intoxicated and hit both a lamppost and a
telephone pole on his way home. A friend of his initially took the blame for
the incident but later relented and admitted Pavlik was driving the vehicle
while drunk.
Pavlik, upon being revealed as
the culprit, allegedly went ballistic and starting yelling at the officers
before being taken into custody. His friend, a Daniel Ferreri, was also taken
in for obstructing justice. In addition to the DUI, Pavlik will face a “Leaving
the scene of an accident” charge as well as failing to control his vehicle. He
is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday. For now, he is free on bond.
What started as a return to the
sport for Mayweather and Pavlik turned into a nightmare year of one bad
incident after another. Mayweather’s year has consisted of a Ustream rant that
was labeled racist at best and offensive across the board at worst. A slew of
court cases ranging from allegedly attacking a security to being implicated in
a skating rink shooting in Las Vegas capped off his lovely year and this latest
case was preceded by one of the more controversial endings to a major PPV fight
in recent memory.
Pavlik, meanwhile, has
continued to struggle with out-of-the-ring issues including a very public
battle with alcoholism, hometown fight canceled at the last second, and an
off-and-on relationship with his trainer, Jack Loew. There was recent talk of
Pavlik heading to Oxnard to train with Robert Garcia, a move thought to be for
Pavlik’s own good, ultimately getting him away from his troubled environment.
Instead, he has remained in Ohio, where he has now gotten into possible “jail
time” trouble.
All in all, it’s a terrible way to end what should have been a positive
return to the sport for both men.
