Mayweather Enjoys Victory, Then a Family Reunion

There were tears to go along with the blood and sweat Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Tears of joy.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. turned in a surprisingly dominating performance against Diego Corrales, knocking Corrales down five times and winning all but one round on one scorecard before the bout was stopped in the 10th round with Mayweather remaining the undefeated World Boxing Council super-featherweight champion.

But the sweetest moment came afterward when Mayweather was reunited with his father after an ugly split of nearly a year.

The two embraced in a long, emotional clinch in the ring that nobody was going to break up.

Not referee Richard Steele.

Not Mayweather’s trainer, his uncle Roger, nor his manager, James Prince.

“I love you, Daddy,” said the younger Mayweather.

“I love you, too,” said Floyd Sr., his son’s manager/trainer until Prince arrived.

Floyd Sr., who is now Oscar De La Hoya’s trainer, missed his son’s last fight, a TKO victory over Emanuel Burton last October.

But Mayweather, Sr. called his son Saturday afternoon to discuss strategy and was in a ringside seat to root and cheer.

There was plenty to cheer about for the Mayweather fans among the announced crowd of 7,926.

It was anticipated that Mayweather’s superior speed and footwork would be keys to a match of unbeaten fighters that was rated nearly even by the oddsmakers. What was not anticipated was the effectiveness of Mayweather’s power.

Corrales had a 4 1/2-inch height advantage and, as it turned out, a weight advantage of nearly 10 pounds. After both men made weight for the 130-pound match on Friday, Corrales ballooned to 146 on Saturday, Mayweather to 136 1/2.

But the height and bulk were of little advantage to Corrales, who was battered and frustrated all night by Mayweather’s stinging left hand and occasional right-hand shots.

Corrales spent much of the evening trying to corner Mayweather, but, when he did so, he didn’t know how to proceed. Instead, Corrales would stand there and watch helplessly as Mayweather slipped away to continue his long-range barrage.

It was defense that Mayweather and his father had talked about Saturday afternoon, and the younger Mayweather had obviously been listening.

“I used my defense like my dad wanted me to,” he said.

The constant punishment nearly did Corrales in in the seventh round.

A short left hand put him down.

A left uppercut put him down again.

And finally, a right hand followed by another right on top of Corrales’ head as he fell resulted in a third knockdown in the round.

“I can punch,” Mayweather said. “I’m a big puncher. I just like to take my time.”

His time finally came in the 10th round.

First he knocked down Corrales with a left, then followed up with a right hand that put the Sacramento fighter down a second time.

That was enough for Ray Woods, Corrales’ stepfather who was working his corner. Woods signaled that Corrales had had enough, causing Steele to signal that the fight was over at the 2:19 mark of the round.

Corrales was furious about the stoppage, but he would have been hard-pressed to find anyone else in the arena to agree the fight should continue.

“I’m angry,” Corrales said. “A fighter likes to go out on his back. That’s the way I wanted to go out. . . . I don’t think anybody had the right to stop the fight. I’m still coherent.”

But no longer unbeaten, his record dropping to 33-1 with 27 knockouts.

In the other corner, Mayweather (25-0, 19) was enjoying his reunion with his father.

Afterward, both spoke in glowing terms of the other.

Said Floyd Jr.: “This is my father. I have always loved him through thick and thin.”

Said Floyd Sr.: “There’s a lot of riffraff in his life, but that’s not going to keep me away. That strategy you saw tonight was all me.”

So can the older Mayweather look past his differences with his brother, Roger, and with Prince and again be a key figure in his son’s life?

“He’s young,” Floyd Sr. said. “You do a lot of foolish things when you’re young. We may not be together again as trainer and fighter, but we will always be together as father and son.”

In the semi-main event, Joe Luis Castillo (42-4-1, 38) defended his WBC lightweight title via a sixth-round TKO victory over Cesar Bazan (38-4-1, 26). Bazan was knocked down twice in the fight before the end came 2:54 into round six.