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Yet another bad piece of news that could -- or could not -- lead to another postponement of the scheduled September 19 fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez has come down the pipe. From ESPN:
Roger Mayweather, the uncle and head trainer of Floyd Mayweather Jr., was arrested and charged with coercion with force and battery strangulation over the weekend in Las Vegas, according to multiple media reports on Monday.
The charges result from a confrontation with Melissa St. Vil, a professional boxer that Mayweather, 48, had trained in the past.
According to the police report, officers answered a call at a private residence on Sunday morning and found Mayweather with his arms around St. Vil. He released her, and she begain coughing and splitting blood.
The police report says that paramedics described redness on St. Vil's throat and defensive wounds on Mayweather's face and head. St. Vil stated that she hit Mayweather in the head with a small lamp as he attempted to strangle her, and the according to the police report, the lamp did have blood on it.
She also stated that she was hit in the ribs several times.
It's an ugly case, but the facts aren't all out just yet. Roger has certainly had his issues in the past.
From a boxing standpoint (since I don't know much about the law other than how to not break it and that things like murder are wrong), what really worries me is Floyd Jr. could surely use this distraction as an excuse to bail again. Mayweather-Marquez was called off the first time officially due to a rib injury to Floyd, and a lot of the other rumor was that it just wasn't selling tickets and the buzz wasn't there. I don't think the buzz is there this time, either. Let's face it: This is a big fight in boxing, but not beyond that. Now matched against UFC 103, PPV numbers would take a hit.
And it's all about how many sales you can bring up at the negotiating table if Mayweather-Pacquiao ever really gets discussed.
Of course, Floyd has his father there as a very capable fill-in if Roger winds up in a lot of trouble, and I don't think Floyd is learning a whole lot in camps these days anyway. He could probably train himself and let me talk to him in the corner and be fine.
Nothing more than the early story right now, though. No word or even decent rumor about it affecting the Mayweather-Marquez fight.