Floyd Mayweather may have never tasted defeat as a pro, but he is familiar with the gut-wrenching feeling from his amateur days.
The boxing icon is widely considered to be one of the greatest professional pugilists of all time and famously retired with an unblemished 50-0 record.
During the course of a pro career stretching from 1996 to 2017, Mayweather picked up 12 major world championships in five weight classes from super featherweight to super welterweight and beat 24 former or current world champions.
As an amateur, Mayweather also enjoyed plenty of success.
‘TBE’ won three national Golden Gloves championships in 1993, 1994 and 1996 – and scooped a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
However, he was unable to maintain an undefeated record in his vested years.
Mayweather lost eight times in a 92-fight amateur career (84-8) against varying levels of opposition.
Many sites list him as being 84-6 while others claim he had even lost as many as nine fights, yet there is only proof of eight – most of which aren’t accompanied by video footage.
The first defeat Mayweather suffered in the unpaid ranks was a points loss to Arnulfo Bravo at the 1994 United States Junior National Championships.
Bravo was a decent amateur, who won the 1995 national Golden Gloves (112lbs) but wasn’t able to replicate the same kind of successes in the pros.
He fought six times in the paid ranks from 1996 to 1997, compiling an unremarkable 4-2 record.
The next man to beat Mayweather was Martin Castillo at a 1994 United States vs Mexico dual meet in Las Vegas, Nevada.
