By John F. McKenna (McJack)
In an effort to put his legal problems behind him WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KO’s) pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor battery charge Friday. It was the 2nd part of a plea deal Floyd’s attorneys worked out with prosecutors. Mayweather was not required to appear in court for Friday’s plea deal. He was represented before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Janiece Marshall by his attorney Karen Winkley.
Mayweather already paid the $1,000 fine levied by the court in the case which involved an incident in November 2010 with a homeowner’s security guard at the gated community where Floyd lives. In the plea arrangement Mayweather acknowledged that he had poked the 21 year old guard several time in the face with his finger in front of his multi million dollar home.
In an unrelated case Floyd pleaded guilty on December 21 to a misdemeanor for domestic violence involving an incident in September 2010. That case involved an altercation with Mayweather’s ex girlfriend, Josie Harris, who is the mother of their three children. Two of their three children were present when the altercation took place.
Law officials in Las Vegas have indicated that his 90 day sentence could be reduced by several weeks for good behavior, but in any case a hoped for fight in May or June between Mayweather and Pound for Pound king Manny Pacquiao is now off indefinitely. Manny is now looking at alternative opponents for a possible fight in late May or June, which would back up a fight with Mayweather by roughly six months.
Mayweather also has a defamation lawsuit brought against him by Manny Pacquiao over his insinuations that Manny’s achievements in the ring are due to performance enhancing drugs (PEDS). It is not likely that Manny will simply drop the defamation lawsuit due to the legal fees incurred by his high profile attorney. Originally Golden Boy Promotions and its top executives were named in the defamation law suit. The suit against Golden Boy was dropped however when Golden Boy issued a very public and written apology to Pacquiao several months ago. Mayweather has never given any indication that he plans to apologize for the insinuations that Pacquiao is using PEDS.
