- Welterweight
Mayweather released from jail
Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr was released from a Las Vegas jail on Friday after serving two months of a three-month sentence in a misdemeanour domestic battery case.
The undefeated boxer walked out of the Clark County Detention Centre beneath the glow of street lamps and glare of TV cameras to resume a boxing career that his lawyers and personal physician warned in court documents might be at risk. They said jail food and water did not meet Mayweather's dietary needs, and lack of exercise space in a cramped cell of fewer than 98 square feet threatened his health and fitness.
He said nothing to the media as he got behind the wheel of a blue Bentley sedan with several friends inside, including rapper 50 Cent, and drove away.
A lot has happened in Mayweather's world since he was jailed on June 1. With no television in his solo cell, he could not see arch-rival Manny Pacquiao lose his WBO welterweight title to Timothy Bradley on June 9.
Mayweather, who goes by the nickname "Money", wasn't around to celebrate last month when Forbes magazine named him the world's highest-paid athlete for 2011.
But Mayweather is now a free man, even if his next opponent is not immediately clear. Ellerbe declined to comment outside the jail on Thursday.
Promoters for Mayweather's main rival, Pacquiao, plan a fight on November 10 at the MGM Grand Garden arena in Las Vegas, Nevada Athletic Commission executive Keith Kizer said. Pacquiao's opponent has not been named, but Mayweather wasn't believed to be on the list.
To fight in Las Vegas, Mayweather will need a new license from the Nevada Athletic Commission, Kizer said on Thursday. His last license, for the May 5 bout against Miguel Cotto, was for one fight only.
If Mayweather applies, commission chairman Raymond "Skip" Avansino Jr could decide to grant approval administratively or summon Mayweather before the panel for a public hearing, Kizer said.
Mayweather received about 30 days off his 90-day jail sentence for work time and good behaviour. Nevada state law allows inmates to receive up to 10 days off per month for cooperating with jailers and working or being willing to work. Las Vegas police administer the jail, and a department spokesman said Mayweather was not required to work and did not misbehave behind bars.
The 35-year-old boxer pleaded guilty last year to reduced domestic battery charges stemming from a hair-pulling, arm-twisting attack on his former girlfriend, Josie Harris, while two of their three children watched. The plea deal allowed him to avoid trial on felony charges that could have landed Mayweather up to 34 years in prison if he was convicted. Harris and the children have since moved to the Los Angeles area.
As a high-profile inmate, police say Mayweather was kept separate for his protection from the other 3,200 inmates in the downtown Las Vegas facility.
This article originally appeared on ESPN.com