SUMMARY
- Floyd Mayweather has a knack for filling arenas and selling his fights far across the globe.
- Floyd Mayweather dropped out of high school to focus more on his boxing career.
Floyd Mayweather needs no introduction to fans of the world of combat sports. The boxing legend is known all over the world thanks to his in-ring prowess. The 46-year-old has a professional boxing record of 50-0-0 and holds the status of ‘Greatest of All Time,’ according to many boxing enthusiasts.
Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather continues to captivate audiences even after retiring from professional boxing. With his crossover boxing events against famous people from the younger generations, the most recent examples are those of famous YouTubers Deji and Logan Paul.
Furthermore, Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather has a knack for filling arenas and selling his fights far and wide across the globe, having excellent PPV record buys to his name across his storied career. The Undefeated Fighter has numerous accolades to call upon to justify his status as one of the greatest, if not the greatest ever.
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But fans have always pondered and questioned one of Mayweather‘s skills. Unsurprisingly, that skill has nothing to do with his boxing ability, as that in itself is near perfect. But it has to do with the American fighter’s ability, or rather, his inability to read.
Floyd Mayweather’s educational background before boxing fame
Floyd Mayweather was born into a boxing family, with his father and his uncles all being boxers. His family background pretty much meant that he was always destined to be a boxer one day, and he became quite a good one at that.
While Floyd Mayweather has immense knowledge of the world of boxing, he surely isn’t the brightest sports star out there in terms of intelligence. One could say that Floyd is the perfect student of the sport of boxing and a pioneer when it comes to globalizing the sport even more than it already is.
Contrary to what the memes around his inability to read suggest, Floyd Mayweather can very well read and write. In fact, he was enrolled at Ottawa Hills High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan. That was, of course, before Floyd Mayweather dropped out of high school.
Floyd Mayweather made this decision to focus more on his boxing career. And in retrospect, one can’t really fault him for doing that, especially after all that he has achieved in the sport. In ‘The Pivot Podcast’ in 2022, Floyd Mayweather talked about how he had hardships growing up due to the inability of his parents to be around while he was in grade 12.
Floyd Mayweather Gets Deep with Alex Rodriguez on The Pivot Podcast https://t.co/M5Ct3YHxTt via @YouTube
— ★★★★★ (@glorygirlgri) April 20, 2022
This confirms that Floyd has at least studied until the 12th grade. Which is definitely enough for one to learn how to read and write. Furthermore, some people have talked about his inability to read and write.
Conor McGregor once claimed Floyd Mayweather cannot read
One big reason people like to make fun of the boxing legend’s reading prowess is due to statements made by the ‘Notorious One’. Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather very famously had a showdown against the Irishman, Conor McGregor, in his last professional fight back in 2017. The fight in itself was a treat to watch, but in the end, it resulted in a Mayweather TKO win in the 10th round.
While the fight was a fitting end to their rivalry, the lead-up to the fight was just something else. With both fighters renowned for their unique ability to pull large crowds, fans were excited to see them face off in press conferences and promotional events leading up to the showdown inside the ring. Neither fighter held back when it came to shaming their opponent on the mic.
It was during one of such showdowns before their bout, which further fuelled the public’s hilarious misconceptions regarding Floyd’s reading skills. Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather were pretty hyped up in their second press conference in Toronto while promoting the fight in front of a huge crowd.
During this particular press conference, McGregor pointed at Floyd and said, “You’re 40 years of age. Dress your f**king age. Carrying a school bag on stage. What are you doing with a school bag on stage? You can’t even read! 40-year-old carrying a school bag. The man doesn’t even f**king read.”
These statements from Conor McGregor have gone viral on social media around the world, making people question Floyd’s reading skills. But what gave birth to these rumors in the first place? Funnily enough, they originated from one of Floyd Mayweather’s close friends.
When 50 Cent challenged Mayweather to read one page for $750,000
50 Cent, the popular rapper from South Jamaica, New York, who used to be great friends with Floyd Mayweather in the past, was the first celebrity to call out Mayweather on his reading ability. The year was 2014, and the ice bucket challenge was in prominence all over social media. Celebrities were prompting each other to undergo the challenge in an attempt to raise awareness about ALS.
During this time, Floyd Mayweather and 50 Cent were in disagreement over some money issues, with the rapper claiming that Mayweather owed him money. Floyd had previously taken shots at 50 Cent, Nelly, and T.I., which made the rapper respond by making a video that would go down as one of the most iconic moments ever.
In the video, Curtis Jackson, aka 50 Cent, first questions why Floyd took shots at him. 50 doesn’t stop there, though, as he proceeds to make a mockery of Floyd by putting forth a challenge to read a book for $750,000.
50 Cent says, “This is a special ASL-ELS challenge for you, Floyd. If you can read one full page of a Harry Potter book, n****, I’ll give $750,000 to whatever charitable organization you want to. F*** the bucket of ice, man.”
He later adds, “I got a phone call from my man Jimmy Kimmel. Jimmy said if Floyd accepts the challenge, then he’ll put it on the actual show so you can read it on the show. We don’t want to put pressure on you. We know you can’t pronounce those words in that Harry Potter book, so we’re going to let you read Cat in the Hat.”
50 Cent’s remarks over Floyd’s supposed inability found their way all over the internet in no time. And gave rise to one of the biggest misconceptions regarding famous personalities in recent times. Other than 50 Cent’s outrageous comments over Mayweather, there has been another instance that points towards the boxing legend’s reading incapability.
A video had surfaced on YouTube in which Floyd Mayweather was struggling to read from a teleporter in a Hip Hop award show. This further made people around the world doubt the boxer’s reading ability. It is quite clear that Floyd can definitely read but is not the best at it. So what do you think about it? Do let us know in the comments.