Floyd Mayweather Jr. Talks Domestic Violence With Katie Couric — Did Freddie Roach Get In His Head?
Floyd Mayweather discussed his 2010 domestic violence conviction in an interview with Katie Couric — just one week after Freddie Roach invoked Mayweather’s history in an interview of his own. Roach, of course, is the acclaimed trainer of Manny Pacquiao, and the tactic by Roach was seen as an attempt to distract and psych out Mayweather in advance of the May 2 megafight between the two world elite boxers.
Now, it appears as if Roach’s gambit may have succeeded.
Last week, Roach gave an interview in which he claimed that Pacquiao was unusually well-motivated to defeat Mayweather because “Manny is really against domestic violence,” Roach said.
“That is a big plus for me that Manny does not like the guy, I think the killer instinct is going to come back a lot faster,” Roach said.
Whether Pacquiao is actually motivated by his supposed anger at Mayweather’s domestic violence history may or may not be true, but what is known is that Mayweather remains bothered by the accusation that he is a violent abuser of women.
The 2010 conviction, for which Mayweather spent two months in jail, stemmed from an incident in which the now-38-year-old boxer, according to the charges, attacked Josie Harris in her home.
Harris is the mother of Mayweather’s children, who were reportedly watching as their father assaulted their mother. Mayweather’s then-10-year-old son Koraun Mayweather told police that the boxer kicked and punched Josie Harris.
But Mayweather told Couric, who interviewed him for Yahoo! News in a clip posted on Wednesday that he didn’t mind talking about the charge — and went on to deny it, saying that he was merely “restraining” Harris.
“Did I kick, stomp and beat someone? No, that didn’t happen. I look in your face and say, ‘No, that didn’t happen.’ Did I restrain a woman that was on drugs? Yes, I did. So if they say that’s domestic violence, then, you know what? I’m guilty. I’m guilty of restraining someone.”
Last year, Koraun Mayweather, now 14, told USA Today that his father is a “coward” for his refusal to admit that he struck Harris.
Mayweather has been hit with seven different domestic violence allegations by five different women, plus a lawsuit by his former fiancée, Shantel Jackson, which alleged that Mayweather victimized her physically on a regular basis, which led to the end of their engagement. Mayweather claimed that he broke off the engagement because Jackson allegedly had an abortion, and he disapproves of abortion.
Mayweather offered Couric an explanation for the repeated accusations.
“I’m black. I’m rich. And I’m outspoken. Those are three strikes right there,” he said.
Watch the Floyd Mayweather Jr. interview with Katie Couric, above.
[Image: Yahoo! News]
