Roger Mayweather was born in 1961, on April 24. His name became famous thanks to great achievements in professional boxing. We will talk about the most interesting facts about Roger's biography in our article.
Boxer childhood
The future boxer was born in the city of Grand Rapids (Michigan) in the northern United States. Roger is one of the three Mayweather brothers who are also well known for their achievements in professional boxing. It should be noted that the most significant success was achieved only by the middle brother - Roger. The rest could not reach the main goal - to become world champions.
As Roger himself said, a craving for victory was present in him from early childhood. The future fighter never missed the opportunity to participate in a fight with peers. Roger Mayweather wore real boxing gloves at the age of 8. Since then, this sporting attribute has always been with him.
The first successes in boxing
Already at the age of 20, Roger entered the path of professional boxing. The first and successful debut of the young athlete took place in 1981, when he knocked out Puerto Rican Andrew Ruiz in the ring. For Roger, this fight was one of the easiest, because not even one round had passed, as the opponent was on the platform of the ring.
First championship belt
After the 13th professional fight, Roger Mayweather, whose photo you can see in our article, won the USBA lightweight championship title. After that, the boxer had two more fights. At the last, he knocked out the Puerto Rican Samuel Serrano. Thanks to this fight, Roger won the WBA lightweight championship belt.
It should be said that Serrano had a good track record - 15 victories in champion battles. But, unfortunately, he turned out to be powerless in front of Mayweather, a beginner pro.
The next few fights Roger also held successfully. The Panamanian Jorge Alvrado and the Chilean Benedicto Villablanca did not have the strength to deal with the blows of Mayweather.
First defeat
The third defense of the championship title ended in defeat for Mayweather. No one expected this outcome of the battle. Rival Roger was his compatriot Rocky Lockridge. It should be noted that the bookmakers did not predict the last victory - the bets were 1: 4.
The fight ended in the first round, when Roger received an unexpected blow to the right. Mayweather had to be taken out of the ring.
Disease
Only later it became known that Roger Mayweather is ill. Unfortunately, the illness of Black Mamba (just such a pseudonym Mayweather took for the ring) is known to many fighters firsthand. The fact is that the boxer has a weak jaw. Roger Mayweather, whose illness prevented him from successfully completing many fights, then announced his main shortcoming to the whole world. It is worth saying that Mayweather and so did not differ athletic physique. His body is rather thin, and his legs are long and thin. Mayweather’s illness and physique forced the trainer to develop a different fighting tactic, which was based on work number two from a distance.
By the way, his nephew Floyd Mayweather, the son of his older brother, became the embodiment of Roger's fighting style. It should be noted that Floyd is much faster than his famous ancestor. The fact is that Roger in his work lacked the speed, reflexes and aggressiveness that are characteristic of Floyd Jr. In general, Mayweather's middle nephew took all the best from his relatives and left them (professionally) much further.
Roger's nickname story
You should talk separately about the nickname of the famous boxer. As Roger told in an interview, on the eve of the next fight, he was watching a documentary about snakes. He focused his attention on the black mamba, which had lightning speed and was very aggressive.
After thinking a bit, he decided to give a name to himself, as he found many internal similarities with this “interesting special wildlife”.
A fall
After losing to Rocky Lockridge, Roger Mayweather, whose biography is full of interesting facts, decided to go to lightweight. But even there he was met by such a familiar … failure. In the next battle, he miserably lost to Tony Balthazar.
The following fights ended on the same note. In the ring, he knocked out thanks to a powerful blow from world champion Freddy Pendleton.
Separately, we should talk about the fight for the WBC world title, in which Roger Mayweather also failed. Chavez Julio Cesar - that was the name of the next rival of the Black Mamba. Unfortunately, already in the second round of the fight Roger was destroyed in every sense of the word.
New take off
Mayweather spent all subsequent fights losing to his rivals. This difficult period lasted until 1987. Then he knocked out the Mexican Rene Arredondo. After this, another 4 fights, Mayweather ended successfully, until the same Chavez again met on his way.
In 1989, already at round 10, Roger had to voluntarily end the fight, since the boxer could not withstand Chavez's crown blows.
After that, he was no longer able to select the champion belt. In 1991, he lost to the Colombian Rafael Pineda, and in 1995 he was defeated by the Russian Kostya Dzyu, who, by the way, was only gaining momentum then. It seemed that in this battle he was not going to fight, but all the time he tried to defend himself from the powerful blows of a young professional.
