In July and August 1996, the world sent its finest athletes to Atlanta. Some athletes came as familiar names from familiar nations. Others had toiled in obscurity. Each came proudly to Atlanta, and Atlanta received them in the same manner. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of those Summer Games, the AJC offers 20 memorable athletes and performances.
The eighth in the series: Floyd Mayweather’s controversial near-miss of gold medal fuels his career.
Floyd Mayweather boasts an unblemished professional boxing record at 49-0, but carries two losses that go back 20 years. If it were up to former United States Olympics head boxing coach Al Mitchell, it would be only one.
Mayweather was part of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and saw his performance surrounded by controversy. He looked destined for a gold medal after defeating Cuban boxer Lorenzo Aragon in the quarterfinals, but witnessed an unexpected end to his semifinal fight with Bulgaria’s Serafim Todorov. Despite a strong consensus that Mayweather had won, Todorov was declared the victor.
And that still doesn’t sit well with Mitchell.
“That was the biggest argument I’ve ever had in the Olympic Games,” said Mitchell, who went to the games in 2004 and 2012 as the U.S. boxing team’s technical coordinator. “I raised hell. He won that fight, there was no question about it.”
Mayweather went through a lot through the Olympic process to even reach Todorov. He suffered a 12-11 loss in the Olympic trials to Augie Sanchez, who trained at the same gym as Mayweather’s uncles Jeff and Roger once did. It was a loss that Mayweather’s future teammate Zahir Raheem said ate away at him.
“He was angry and he was hurt,” Raheem said. “He cried. He told me, ‘Forget it. I’m quitting. I’m going home.’ He looked at me with so much hurt when he lost.”
But Mayweather pressed on and won three more trial matches to qualify. He defeated Kazakhstan’s Bakhtiyar Tileganov in the opening round of the featherweight division’s Olympics tournament then beat Armenian Artur Gevorgyan in the second round.
Mayweather’s next fight, against Cuban Lorenzo Aragon, was his biggest test yet. Aragon was bigger and boasted a longer reach, and an American had not defeated a Cuban in the Olympics since Leo Randolph beat Ramon Duvalon in 1976. If Mayweather beat Aragon, Mayweather had to change his regular style and become the aggressor.
And that’s exactly what he did. Mayweather’s change of pace led to a 12-11 victory that left a formidable impression on his veteran coach.
“There was no question in my mind after that that he was going to win the gold,” Mitchell said.
The gold medal seemed to be one step closer near the close of the Todorov fight. Mayweather landed more hits on the Bulgarian and worked him round after round. After the scores were tabulated, Egyptian referee Hamad Hafaz Shouman raised Mayweather’s hand as the announcer delivered the results.
The final tally was 10-9. Todorov had prevailed.
“They robbed him,” Raheem said. “Everybody knew Mayweather won. The referee knew. He probably then read the score and realized he made a mistake like Steve Harvey did with Miss America.”
Mitchell protested the decision to no avail. Mayweather took home the bronze medal. Todorov later lost to Somluck Kamsing of Thailand in the gold-medal fight.
While the loss to Todorov stung Mayweather, he never let it hold him back in the ring. He entered the professional realm two months later and embarked on one of the more impressive runs the boxing world has seen.
Over the next 20 years, Mayweather fought in five different weight classes while accruing 49 victories and 26 knockouts. He won 12 world titles along the way and is considered to be among the greatest boxers of all-time.
“When I would go to other countries, people would ask me if I knew Muhammad Ali,” Mitchell said. “Now when I go to other countries, people ask me if I knew Mayweather. It just shows you the changing of the times and the changing of the guard.”
His rise since the 1996 Olympics has also been marred by several legal issues.
Mayweather, who did not respond to several interview requests, was charged with two counts of domestic violence and one count of misdemeanor battery in 2002. Two years later, he was given a one-year suspended jail sentence and a $1,000 fine after being convicted of two counts of misdemeanor battery against two women. He pled guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge in 2010 stemming from incidents involving ex-girlfriend Josie Harris and was sentenced to 90 days in jail.
Mayweather’s athletic career could have been stunted by an Olympics loss most felt he did not deserve. Instead, it became fuel to the fire of a young boxer from Grand Rapids, Mich., who would soon be at the forefront of the boxing community.
“When he lost to Todorov, he said to himself, ‘I’ll never lose again,’” Raheem said. “He realized that he had to make the adjustments necessary to be who he is today.”
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