The last time Floyd Mayweather lost a boxing match

MANILA, Philippines – On October 11, 1996, Floyd Mayweather began his professional boxing career at the small, off-strip Texas Station Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada with a second-round knockout of Roberto Apodaca. 

The card was headlined by WBO junior bantamweight champion Johnny Tapia, who knocked out Sammy Stewart, and featured a number of fighters that Mayweather was either already familiar with or would get to know later on.

There was Augie Sanchez, who defeated Mayweather in one of their 3 1996 U.S. Olympic team box-off matchups before losing the next two and the featherweight spot to Mayweather. There was Eric Morel, the flyweight representative on that same team that competed in Atlanta. There was also Diego Corrales, the 6-foot banger whom Floyd would drop five times en route to a technical knockout win in their 2001 meeting of unbeaten junior featherweights.

Mayweather’s attention that night wasn’t on the past or the future however; it was on the midsection of his opponent. Mayweather’s left hooks to the body produced two knockdowns, the second from which Apodaca could not recover from, earning Mayweather his first professional win.

 

That night began a string of 47 straight fights where Mayweather’s hand would be raised in victory.

Along the way Mayweather has captured world titles in 5 divisions, defeating 20 current, past or future champions including Oscar de la Hoya, Miguel Cotto and Juan Manuel Marquez. 

There wasn’t the sense of historical significance that precedes his next fight on May 2, when Mayweather faces Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for the right to be called the best fighter of this generation.  

He was just trying to move past the memory of August 2, 1996: the day he lost a 10-9 decision to Bulgaria’s Serafim Todorov in the semifinal round of the 1996 Olympics. 

Mayweather, then 19, wasn’t yet the “Money” Mayweather who has become the new Mr. Vegas of Boxing, but rather “Pretty Boy Floyd” from Grand Rapids, Michigan, the son of former 70s welterweight contender Floyd Mayweather Sr., and nephew to former junior lightweight and junior welterweight champion Roger Mayweather. 

Todorov was a full-grown man at 27 at that time, and having made it to the semis of the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, had more international experience than his American opponent. 

Mayweather received a bronze medal – you don’t win a bronze as he says – after making it to the final four of the 125-pound limit. Even at a young age Mayweather’s dominance was evident. 

He stopped his first opponent Bakhtiyar Tileganov of Kazakhstan in two rounds, followed by a 16-3 whitewashing of Armenia’s Artur Gevorgyan. In the following round, Mayweather outboxed Cuba’s Lorenzo Aragon 12-11, becoming the first American to defeat a Cuban boxer at the Olympics in 20 years. 

“Well, that wasn’t the gold medal match, so I can’t get too excited. But I hope it motivates my teammates,” Mayweather told the New York Times afterwards. 

Meanwhile, in another bracket, Todorov was outboxing his opponents as well, including future IBF junior lightweight champ Robbie Peden.

Mayweather’s obvious advantage came in the speed department while Todorov had a significant edge in height and reach. The computerized scoring system, which mandated that three out of five judges had to push a button indicating a landed blow in order to count a point, was being used for the second Olympiad. And it became clear that points were not being scored when they should’ve been for the American. 

The first point was scored a minute into the bout by Todorov after both exchanged blows equally. Another point was tallied for Todorov a minute later for a right hand punch that didn’t seem to score. Mayweather landed several left hooks in the opening minutes but didn’t get credit for a point until there were 20 seconds left in the round after a right hand-left hook-right hand combo seemed to fluster Todorov. 

The judges began clicking their buttons in round two, crediting Mayweather for his blows as he became more aggressive and landed at will. Mayweather took a 7-6 lead into the third and final round. 

Todorov was credited for two points on two body shots in close while Mayweather landed right hands to the head that went unnoticed. Blood from Mayweather’s nose was wiped by the referee with a little over a minute remaining. With less thirty seconds left, a right hand from Todorov seemed to stagger Mayweather. 

TV viewers could see the scores but neither of the fighters nor the referee knew who had won. When the decision was announced the referee, thinking Mayweather had won, erroneously raised his hand instead. The Atlanta crowd immediately drowned out the arena with boos. Todorov went over to Mayweather’s corner to shake hands with U.S. coach Al Mitchell and shrugged his shoulders. 

“Of course I thought I won,” Mayweather was quoted by The Times. “And if you thought I won, you know the truth.”

The Bulgarian advanced to the gold medal round while Mayweather’s team would attempt unsuccessfully to protest the decision, claiming that the chief of officials of the International Amateur Boxing Federation Emil Jetchev, a Bulgarian, had influenced the judges. 

Todorov would lose 5-8 to Thailand’s Somluck Kamsing and receive silver. He turned pro in 1998 – five months before Mayweather won his first title – and finished in 2003 with a modest 5-1 record. 

History has looked favorably on Mayweather’s Olympic campaign. A RingTV.com article in 2012 ranked the decision number 9 on a list of notable Olympic boxing controversies while Lee Groves of punch-counting company CompuBox tallied a 47-26 advantage in punch connects for Mayweather in 2010.

Still, it pales in comparison to more egregious injustices, like the 1988 robbery of Roy Jones Jr. in the gold medal round against a boxer from host nation South Korea. – Rappler.com