Mayweathers’ Rift Beyond Help

They are united by blood, a common name and a passion for their sport.

But that is no longer enough.

Floyd Mayweather Sr. and Floyd Mayweather Jr. have become deeply divided, perhaps forever, over money, control and pride.

Junior, the undefeated World Boxing Council super-featherweight champion, will defend his title next Saturday against Diego Corrales at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Hotel. Senior was Junior’s manager-trainer.

Until Junior fired him last year.

And evicted his father from the house for which Senior had supplied the down payment.

And took back the van he had given his father.

At least, that’s the way Senior tells it.

Junior will only say, “I never fired my father. He left.”

Perception and interpretation aside, there is no doubt that things haven’t been the same for the Mayweathers since Junior made rap music producer James Prince his manager.

Suddenly Prince was calling the shots. And getting 20% of the action. Senior had been getting only 10%.

The end came when Junior rejected a three-year, six-fight deal from HBO worth $12.75 million, calling the money “slave wages.”

Said Senior, “I told him to take the 12 million. Father knows best. What other network would give him 12 million? He stood to make 25 to 30 million overall for the six-fight deal.

“When he met Prince, everything went to hell. Prince, whose real name is James Smith, said he was going to get Floyd into the rap business. So far, Floyd ain’t seen nothin’ that even looks like a CD.

“Ever since he’s been with James Smith, he’s been going downhill,” Senior said. “My son is stupid for paying the man 20% for nothing. Me, the man who gave him his name--Mayweather--he was giving 10%.”

Senior said that things came to a head over dinner one night when he asked Prince, in front of Junior, “What have you done for your 20%?”

Senior said there was an eviction notice on his door the next day. He moved out and bought his own house.

Prince, of course, tells a different story.

“Floyd loves his father,” he has said when asked about his role in the family feud. “I wouldn’t let anyone destroy their relationship.”

Prince has a supporter in promoter Bob Arum, of all people, who also was extremely wary of the rap producer in the past.

“He’s not a bad guy,” said Arum, who wasn’t talking that way when Junior, with Prince in his corner, was taking a hard-line negotiating stance that resulted in only one fight over a 13-month period. “He [Prince] is a pretty smart guy. I’m not just saying that. He knows what he’s doing.”

People assumed Senior knew what he was doing in the ring back in 1978 when he was a welterweight good enough to get a title shot against Sugar Ray Leonard. Senior lost.

In 1993, he lost a lot more. He was sent to a Michigan prison for drug dealing.

As his son rose in the amateur ranks, made it to the Olympics, lost a controversial decision, settled for a bronze medal and launched a high-profile professional career, Senior could only watch through bars while his brothers, Roger, a former lightweight and super-lightweight champion, and Jeff, also a professional fighter, trained Junior.

When Senior got out of prison in 1998, Junior was 13-0. Senior took over the reins and guided his son to the title via an eighth-round technical knockout victory over Genaro Hernandez, and then on to five successful title defenses.

But by the most recent one, a victory last March over Goyo Vargas, father and son no longer were speaking outside the ring.

Senior was gone after that fight and Roger was back in control as trainer.

“My relationship with Roger is like with a ghost,” Senior said. “When I see him, I [look through] him. I don’t want to see him. He values money much more than family. He used to call himself ‘the Black Mamba.’ That’s fitting because the mamba is the most poisonous snake in Africa.”

Not surprisingly, Senior doesn’t like the way Roger is training Junior, warning that his son could lose to Corrales because Roger stresses only offense, ignoring defensive skills.

“What got my son where he is today,” Senior said, “is what his Daddy taught him, which is good offense and good defense.”

Junior has fought once since the split, defeating Emanuel Burton on a ninth-round TKO last October. But Saturday’s fight is much bigger and more dangerous. Will Senior still be in Junior’s corner emotionally?

“I’m no different than anybody else,” Senior said. “I got love for my kid. I’m not a fool. I will never trust him again. Too much has happened. But I still love him. It’s unconditional love.”

Will Senior come to watch?

“No, I got to take care of my business,” he said. “I got better things to do.”

NEW JOB, NEW CONCERNS

Senior’s new business is the training of former welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya, who is free to resume his career after being released from his contractual ties to Arum on Thursday in a Los Angeles courtroom.

Mayweather, replacing De La Hoya’s longtime trainer, Robert Alcazar, will begin working with the fighter Friday at his Big Bear training headquarters with plans for a fight in late March.

QUICK JABS

International Boxing Federation junior-welterweight champion Zab Judah (25-0, one no-contest, 19 knockouts) will defend his title tonight at Uncas Pavilion in Connecticut against Reggie Green (33-4, 16 knockouts) on Showtime. Also on the card will be 2000 Olympians Ricardo Juarez and Jeff Lacy.