If the third man in the ring had his way, Floyd Mayweather would have no knockdowns on his official career boxing record.
If you look at the small print from Mayweather’s extensive CV, the first-ballot Hall of Fame legend has been dropped once in his 50 victories.
The former pound-for-pound has forever protested the count during a 2001 super featherweight division title clash with Carlos Hernandez in front of his own Grand Rapids, Michigan fans.
It was a hard pill to swallow for Mayweather, who threw a punch and felt a jolt. He, therefore, was forced to touch down briefly without taking a significant blow.
Floyd Mayweather referee
The third man in the ring was the late Dale Grable, an experienced official who subsequently issued a count.
The incident happened so fast that there was no time to rectify it and similarly no protest from a struggling Mayweather.
MLive reporter David Mayo, a friend of WBN who followed Mayweather during his entire career, has since revealed that Grable would have rescinded the knockdown if possible.
Under World Boxing Council rules, who sanctioned the fight for their super-featherweight title, a count cannot be altered or taken away once in the record books.
“Dale Grable, the referee in that fight, got screened off. He acknowledged to me many years later to me,” Mayo pointed out.
“He said he wouldn’t have ruled the knockdown if he realized it didn’t come from a counter. Rest in peace, Dale. One of the great ones.
“But yes, to the point, he did [have to take a count]. The only knockdown of his career.”
Excellent 50-0 record
Others would agree that Mayweather got knocked down once during those fifty incredible fights.
But it wasn’t against Hernandez. It came in his bout five years later opposite Zab Judah in Las Vegas.
The former Pretty Boy turned Money Mayweather was dropped in that fight. It’s just that the official at that time, Richard Steele, missed the fist planted on the canvas.
Either way, they say a career is evened out over the duration. The one-time unified WBC and WBA junior welterweight ruler had to suck this up and put it down to entertainment.
Winning fifty in a row is an unprecedented tally for any fighter during any tenure.
It should be a sufficient cushion, alongside the millions of dollars in purse earnings from the Manny Pacquiao and Conor McGregor record-breaking Pay-Per-View events, for Mayweather to stay retired happily.
Mayweather is one of the best ever to lace up gloves. His ego won’t be too tender to have a solitary knockdown etched in stone.
You’d have to go back to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta to find his last defeat. Mayweather took a bronze medal and left the ring with tears in his eyes.
He was only 19 when he lost to experienced Bulgarian Serafim Todorov.
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