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Floyd Mayweather Jnr and his father have had a stormy relationship, but they are back together for the fighter's toughest test yet against Manny Pacquiao.
Over the years, Mayweather Snr has spent long stretches estranged from his son because of their egos and the father's stints in jail, including a five-year sentence two decades ago on a drug trafficking conviction.
Mayweather Snr, who turned to training after his own boxing career was cut short when he was shot in the leg during a family dispute, once almost took a job training Oscar De La Hoya against his son.
But the Mayweathers have reconciled and Mayweather Snr, 62, has been in his son's corner for the past four fights.
It's just a blessing. I come in the gym and work. I try to focus on doing my job and being the best at my job. My father deserves credit because I wouldn't be a fighter if it wasn't for my father
Floyd Mayweather Jnr
"It's just a blessing," Mayweather Jnr said. "I come in the gym and work. I try to focus on doing my job and being the best at my job. My father deserves credit because I wouldn't be a fighter if it wasn't for my father."
Mayweather Snr likes to tell a story of when his son was just a baby and he would put him down on the bed at their house and move his tiny hands in punching motions.
"One day I came into the room and he's laying back on the pillow doing just what I was showing him," Mayweather Snr said. "I said, 'This is it. He's going to be a fighter.'"
There's another story involving his son that Mayweather Snr is less comfortable talking about, but he tells it anyway.

Sitting in a chair in his Grand Rapids, Michigan home with his toddler son in his arms, Mayweather Snr found himself staring down the barrel of a 20-gauge shotgun .
The shotgun was held by his brother-in-law, who had decided to take matters into his own hands after being told he had worn out his welcome at the Mayweather home.
Mayweather Snr ignored the pleas of the child's mother, hanging on to the boy as the only thing saving him from death.
"She was trying to get the baby. 'Give me my baby, give me my baby,'" Mayweather Snr said. "But you are not going to get this baby because this was my only shield.
"I got shot with him in my hands," Mayweather Snr recalled and added: "He would have killed me." The blast destroyed the left calf of the father but Mayweather Jnr escaped that incident unscathed.
She was trying to get the baby. 'Give me my baby, give me my baby.' But you are not going to get this baby because this was my only shield
Floyd Mayweather Snr
Carrying on a family boxing tradition has brought Mayweather Jnr (47-0, 26 KOs) fame and wealth, but the kind of turbulence that surrounded his upbringing is also still a part of his life.
He has multiple convictions for assaulting women, serving two months in jail in 2012 for a hair-pulling, arm-twisting attack on a former girlfriend as two of their children looked on.
Unlike other millionaire athletes, Mayweather Jnr, 38, has never been suspended or sanctioned by one of boxing's governing bodies over domestic violence incidents.
His latest legal trouble unfolded last year when some fellow boxers, who work out at his Las Vegas gym, sued him over training conditions that allegedly included making fighters go 31 rounds without a break. Mayweather Snr missed seeing his son fight in the 1996 Olympics, where he lost in the semi-finals, because he was in jail.

Mayweather Jnr credits his father with leading him down the boxing path to a record purse of more than US$150 million.
At least for now, the Mayweathers have also patched up things inside and outside the ring. "He might have felt it was my fault, I might have thought it was his," Mayweather Snr says. "He's still my son."
Mayweather Snr boxed for 11 years until his wounds from the shooting and a lung disease that he says he caught in prison made it impossible for him to continue.
He fought as a welterweight contender in the 1970s and 1980s, losing by a 10th round technical knockout to Sugar Ray Leonard in 1978.
I fought Sugar Ray Leonard with one hand. I had a hairline fracture in my hand
Floyd Mayweather Snr
"I fought Sugar Ray Leonard with one hand. I had a hairline fracture in my hand," he said.
But while revered by his son as a boxing "wizard", his counterpart in the opposite corner this weekend - Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach - is less impressed by him.
"The dad gets too excited in the corner, doesn't give good direction," Roach said.
"I'm very happy he's there, to be honest with you."
The Mayweather camp and their backgrounds contrasts sharply with that of Pacquiao's and his rags-to-riches rise.
If the story line of this fight, as Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach suggests, is good versus evil, it's easy to tell the fighters apart.
Pacquiao is a born-again Christian who quotes Bible verses. He is a congressman in his native Philippines.
Mayweather is a great boxer who can't keep his hands off the women in his life. He has been charged on at least five occasions on domestic abuse allegations, including that 2010 attack on the mother of three of his children that landed him in jail for two months.
"When Manny beats Mayweather, it won't only be about unifying the welterweight titles," Roach said. "It will also be a public service to boxing."
Pacquiao, of course, has more to worry about than cleaning up the sport. He will face a fighter whose brilliance in the ring has never been questioned.
Agence France-Presse, Associated Press


Like father, like son - Mayweather family affair in and out of the ring

Floyd Mayweather Snr looks on as his son trains for his welterweight megafight with Manny Pacquiao. Photo: AP

They Mayweathers at the weigh-in with Manny Pacquiao and Freddie Roach. Photo: Reuters

Mayweather Snr helps junior with the punching bag in Las Vegas. Photo: Reuters

Sport

Boxing

Floyd senior and junior have their history but they are united for the Manny Pacquiao fight


Floyd Mayweather Jnr and his father have had a stormy relationship, but they are back together for the fighter's toughest test yet against Manny Pacquiao.
