Roger Mayweather, boxing champ, dies
Trained nephew Floyd until illness
Roger Mayweather, a twoweight world champion boxer who helped his nephew, Floyd Mayweather, become one of the greatest fighters of all time, died Tuesday after a lengthy battle with diabetes. He also battled brain trauma and kidney disease.
He was 58.
“My uncle was one of the most important people in my life inside and outside of the ring,” Floyd said in a statement. “Roger was a great champion and one of the best trainers in boxing. Unfortunately, his health was failing him for several years and now he can finally rest in peace.”
Mayweather was nicknamed “The Black Mamba” and lived in Las Vegas. He was born April 24, 1961, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and debuted as a professional boxer July 29, 1981, at the Silver Slipper. He knocked out Samuel Serrano on Jan. 19, 1983, to win the WBA super featherweight title, which he successfully defended twice before losing to Rocky Lockridge on Feb. 26, 1984.
He eventually moved up to the light welterweight division, winning the WBC title from René Arredondo via knockout on Nov.
12, 1987. He successfully defended the title four times before losing to Julio César Chávez on May 13, 1989, but continued fighting for 10 more years before retiring in 1999 with a record of 59-13, including 35 victories by knockout.
Mayweather began training his nephew, Floyd, in 1996 and took over full time in 2000, helping him become one of the best poundfor-pound fighters in the history of the sport before his health forced him to step away from Floyd’s corner.
“Roger meant the world to me, my father Floyd Sr., my uncle Jeff, our whole family, everyone in and around the Mayweather Boxing
Gym and the entire boxing world,” said Floyd, who’s still mourning the loss of Josie Harris, his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his children, after she was found dead in Southern California on Wednesday.
“It is a terrible loss for all of us,” Floyd added.
Roger Mayweather’s health had waned considerably in recent years, and he had unprompted bouts of forgetfulness, paranoia, anger and hallucination. He also struggled with his vision as a result of his diabetes.
“I didn’t understand it. Sometimes words wouldn’t come to him,” his daughter, Jade, told the Review-journal in March 2018. “When I started looking into (his health), how his body would deteriorate, I started realizing I would have to take on more of the parenting role sometimes. It was kind of hard.
“My dad knew he had brain trauma,” she added. “He told me, ‘I’m kind of messed up in my head.’ I kind of asked him if he had any regrets and he said, ‘No, I absolutely loved the sport. I have no regrets.’ ”
Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@ reviewjournal.com. Follow @Bysamgordon on Twitter.
The Knights and Maple Leafs entered the season with high expectations. They also had a hard time living up to them at the start of the season.
The Knights’ struggle to play consistent hockey was on full display early, and their 10-9-3 record showed it. The Leafs’ 9-9-4 mark was worse. More alarmingly, a Toronto team built around high-flying and highly paid forwards was tied for 12th in goals per game.
The Leafs were close to their breaking point. Turns out, this game was it.
What happened:
Marc-andre Fleury happened.
The Knights goaltender has not often been at his best this season, but he was in this game. The Leafs had a 39-29 edge in scoring chances and 21-13 edge in high-danger scoring chances. Fleury refused to be beaten.
His heroics allowed the Knights to build a 3-1 lead with 9:38 left after goals by forwards Cody Glass, Tomas Nosek and Mark Stone.
Toronto left wing Zach Hyman’s power-play goal with 7:13 remaining made the score 3-2 and set up a dramatic finish. The Maple Leafs began pressing for the tying goal until Fleury went deep into his bag of tricks to shut the door.
Toronto right wing Ilya
Mikheyev skated to the left circle with less than four minutes left, and Fleury went to the top right corner of the crease to challenge the shot. The puck caromed off the post and to Leafs center Nic Petan near the bottom of the right circle.
Petan had a wide-open net and a goaltender out of position. Or so he thought.
As Petan lofted a backhand shot toward the crease, Fleury leaped — left glove hand outstretched — back toward the net. He snatched the puck out of the air with 3:43 to play, and the Knights’ lead was preserved.
That was it for Toronto. Cody Eakin scored an empty-net goal with 21 seconds remaining.
Game MVP:
It’s going to the gravity-defying goaltender.
Fleury made 31 saves in winning his 450th game — the seventh goalie to hit that mark — and his one on Petan will stand the test of time. Fleury’s agent, Allan Walsh, dubbed it “the save of the century” on Twitter. It was No. 3 on Sportsnet’s top 10 saves of the season in February.
It might not have been his best as a Knight — that honor might go to his playoff saves against Mark Scheifele, which the NHL included on its video of the best saves of the decade — but it was still great. And it’s likely going to be the moment he’s remembered for this season.
“I got a little giggle, a little smile,” Fleury said. “Just happy it didn’t go in. As a goalie, those are the saves that make you feel (like a skater feels when they score a goal). Those are the saves I love to play for.”
The game was raucously celebrated in Las Vegas. In Toronto, hockey-crazy Canada’s largest city, not so much.
Leafs coach Mike Babcock was fired the next day, and the team promoted American Hockey League coach Sheldon Keefe. The Leafs had the eighth-best points percentage in the NHL after the change.
It remains to be seen whether Babcock, 56, who has 700 wins, 14 playoff appearances and a Stanley Cup to his name, will coach again.
The Knights failed to build much off the win and switched up their defensive zone coverage four games later.
Aftermath: Why it’s No. 3:
One of the NHL’S star goaltenders did something so spectacular it potentially ended a respected coach’s career. What else needs to be said?
Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal. com. Follow @Bensgotz on Twitter.