Floyd Mayweather Professional career

Super Featherweight
Mayweather fought his first professional bout on October 11, 1996 against fellow newcomer Roberto Apodaca who was knocked out in round 2. Mayweather's trainer at the time was his uncle, Roger Mayweather, because Floyd Mayweather, Sr. was still imprisoned after having been convicted of illegal drug trafficking in 1993. Mayweather, Sr. took over as Mayweather, Jr.'s trainer when he was released from prison (after Mayweather, Jr.'s fourteenth fight—a second-round knockout of Sam Girard).[41] From 1996 to early 1998, Mayweather won most of his fights by knockout or TKO.

In 1999, Mayweather won his first world title, the WBC junior lightweight (130 lb) championship, when the corner of Genaro Hernandez stopped the fight after round 8. Hernandez had never been defeated at the weight class. From there, Mayweather defended his title with performances against contenders such as Angel Manfredy and Carlos Gerena.

Before he fought against former WBC featherweight champion Gregorio Vargas in early 2000, Mayweather fired his father as his manager and replaced him with James Prince. A few months after the fight, the rift between the father and son became wide enough that Mayweather, Jr. fired Mayweather, Sr. as his trainer as well.[42] Roger Mayweather returned to his role as Mayweather, Jr.'s trainer in his next bout—a non-title fight against Emanuel Burton. In an interview in 2004, Mayweather, Jr. said that he loves Mayweather, Sr. as his father but feels that he has better chemistry with Roger, and his father had put too much pressure on him to be perfect.[43]

Mayweather's biggest fight as a junior lightweight was on January 20, 2001, against Diego Corrales. At the time, neither fighter had been defeated or knocked down. In the bout, Mayweather won every round and knocked down Corrales five times (three times in round 7 and twice in round 10). After the fifth knockdown, Corrales' cornermen climbed onto the apron and stopped the fight, thereby establishing Mayweather as one of the claimants to boxing's mythical pound-for-pound title. At the time of the stoppage, Mayweather was way ahead on the scorecards, leading by the official tallies of 89-79, 90-79, and 90-78.[44]

In Mayweather's next bout, on May 26, 2001, future IBF champion Carlos "Famoso" Hernández knocked down Mayweather for the first time. Mayweather entered the bout with injured hands.[45] When Mayweather hit Hernández with a left hook in round 6, the pain caused Mayweather to drop his left hand to the canvas, and the referee called it a knockdown. Nonetheless, Mayweather won the fight by unanimous decision. In the award-winning[46] documentary film More Than Famous, Hernández's bout against Mayweather was prominently featured.

Mayweather's last fight in the junior lightweight division was against future junior lightweight and lightweight champion Jesús Chávez. It was Mayweather's eighth defense of the WBC junior lightweight title, which he had held for more than three years. He won when Chávez's corner stopped the fight after round 9. Mayweather had such difficulty making weight for this fight that he did not eat for four days before the weigh-in.[47