Floyd came up the hard way

– Two years after retiring from boxing, Floyd Mayweather, 40, climbs back into the ring today chasing history and one last mammoth payday.

Mayweather (above), whose career earnings reportedly topped $700 million following his last bout in 2015, could, according to some estimates, pocket another $200m this weekend.

It is the latest money-spinning stop on a career that has seen Mayweather go from 1996 Olympics bronze medallist to be regarded as one of the greatest boxers in history.

Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on February 4, 1977, Mayweather was destined for the ring.

His father, Floyd Mayweather Sr, was himself a talented former welterweight who once fought 10 rounds with Sugar Ray Leonard. Floyd Sr taught his son to box almost as soon as he could walk.

Floyd Sr was holding his infant son in his arms when he was shot in the leg during a family dispute, an injury that effectively ended his career.

“He was training to be a fighter in the crib,” Mayweather Sr said of his son.

Mayweather, who grew up in a cramped apartment with seven relatives, frames his early life as a battle for survival.

“It’s never been easy for me. Boxing is easy, but life has never been easy,” Mayweather says.

“I had a father who was a hustler and a mother who was on drugs. I was the man in the house from 16. That’s the way it was.”

When Mayweather fought at the 1996 Olympics, his father was serving a five-year prison sentence for drug-trafficking.

In Floyd Sr’s absence, his uncle Roger had taken over training the young fighter, overseeing his entry to the professional ranks.

Within two years, the skilful, lightning-fast Mayweather had won his first world title, knocking out WBC superfeatherweight champion Gennaro Hernandez in eight rounds.

Years of domination followed as Mayweather swept through the divisions. – AFP