Both Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Logan Paul have been described as “controversial” in the run-up to their fight, and the word will likely make an appearance on the telecast tonight, so it is worth being specific about the troubles the fighters have faced in the past — which they have each used to promote this fight.
Mayweather has been convicted of domestic abuse charges three times. He pleaded guilty to battery against the mother of one of his children in 2002 and received a suspended sentence. He was found guilty of two counts of battery against two women he hit in a casino in 2004 and received another suspended sentence, though the guilty verdict was later vacated. In 2012, he served two months of a three month prison sentence after accepting a plea deal for reduced charges of domestic violence and harassment after he beat the mother of three of his children, Josie Harris.
According to the arrest report for the last incident, Mayweather grabbed Harris’s hair and punched her in the back of the head several times. Harris later told Yahoo that she believed Mayweather purposefully punched her there because the bruises wouldn’t show. Harris died last year of an accidental drug overdose, according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner.
Paul has never been convicted of a crime, and most of his controversies have to do with what he films and uploads to his YouTube channel. In early 2018, Paul apologized after receiving heavy criticism for filming a video in a Japanese forest known as a destination for people to kill themselves, including showing a dead body and his reaction to it.
YouTube removed Paul from its preferred ad program and later temporarily suspended advertising on his channel for what it said was “egregious” behavior. He has generated a number of other, smaller, firestorms, mostly stemming from his videos and its bro humor, pranks and antics.
Mayweather and Paul raised the controversies while verbally sparring in front of reporters at a news conference last month to drum up interest for the fight.
“I know what he did to the country of Japan. I know what he did to Japan. So guess what? You’re going to have to pay for what you did to Japan.”
“Is this you trying to rally an entire country around you?” Paul responded.
Mayweather began to talk again, and Paul immediately interjected: “Well I know what you did to your wife.” He added: “He beat his wife, too.”
“He’s entitled to feel how he want to feel, say what he want to say,” Mayweather responded. “My thing is this: you have to always have proof. We can never go by hearsay, always have proof.”
After the news conference, the fighters vaguely referenced their own troubles in a Showtime special that covered the run-up to the fight.
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