Why Did Floyd Mayweather’s Son Call Him a ‘Coward?’
Floyd Mayweather Jr. has an undefeated record of 50-0, won 15 major world titles since 1996, and in 2016 ESPN named him the best pound-for-pound boxer in the last 25 years. While Mayweather has been perfect in the ring, his life outside has been far from it. His oldest son Koraun made that known to the world when he publicly called out his father by calling him a “coward.”
Floyd Mayweather’s troubles outside the ring
Controversy outside of the ring has dogged Floyd Mayweather for much of his career. Through the years, the champion fighter has faced multiple charges of domestic violence and been convicted on multiple occasions of various types of battery.
In an interview with USA Today, Josie Harris, Mayweather’s girlfriend and mother of three of his four children, said in September 2010 the boxer entered her house in the early morning hours, and “yanked her to the floor by her hair, then punched and kicked and screamed cuss words at her in front of their children.”
The couple’s oldest son, Koraun, who was 10 years old, made his way out of the house to alert a security guard who then called police. Floyd Mayweather was arrested and posted bail. In December 2011, Mayweather reached a deal with prosecutors and pled guilty to misdemeanor battery in exchange for prosecutors dropping the felony battery charge. Mayweather also pleaded no contest to two counts of misdemeanor harassment, resulting from threats to his children. He served 60 days of his 90-day sentence.
That incident was one of seven alleged assaults Mayweather has committed against five different women that resulted in him being arrested or issued a citation.
Koraun calls out his father
In 2014, years after the incident in which Harris said Koraun saved her life, Koraun Mayweather sat down with his mom during her interview with USA Today. The then 14-year-old said he had a good relationship with Floyd Mayweather and attended his father’s fights but didn’t have any interest in boxing because he found it “boring.”
“We just hang out. We either watch a movie or something or go bowling,” he said. “I find (boxing) boring. It is just like how people sit in the ring and fight for 12 rounds, and it gets boring after a while. Sometimes they run.”
While his father was a part of his life, Koraun said what he witnessed the night of the attack in 2010 made him angry, but his father’s refusal to admit to his abusive actions bothered him most.
“He is a coward,” Koraun described his father at the time.
Koraun’s relationship with his father today
In March 2020, Josie Harris was found unresponsive inside a vehicle parked in her driveway. She was pronounced dead at the scene. In the days that followed, Mayweather, obviously moved by her death, posted multiple photos to Instagram describing Harris as “My Angel,” “My Sweetheart,” “My Sunshine,” and “My better half.”
Although Koraun has never forgotten that night in 2010, he has tried to move forward and build on the relationship with his father. And what about the sport that he once described as boring? In April, Mayweather posted a video with him and his son in the gym, the father sharing boxing secrets.
Could Koraun have a future in the sport his father is considered one of the best ever? Time will tell.
