Floyd Mayweather Jr Said the NFL Shouldn’t Have Changed Ray Rice’s Initial Punishment

Boxer Floyd Mayweather has had his own issues with domestic violence. In an interview Tuesday, Floyd was asked about the Ray Rice incident and he believes the NFL shouldn’t have changed its stance from the original two-game suspension.

“They had said that they had suspended him for two games. Whether they saw the tape or not, I truly believe a person should stick to their word. If you tell me you’re going to do something, do what you say you’re going to do. But once again, I’m not in the NFL, so I can’t really speak on the situation.”

Mayweather expressed hope for “nothing but the best” for the Rices.

“I think there’s a lot worse things that go on in other people’s households, also,” he said. “It’s just not caught on video.

“I know he’s probably going through a lot right now because football is his passion, football is his love. It’s no different than with me being in the fight game, if they told me, ‘Floyd, you’ve got the biggest deal in sports history,’ and then a couple months later, they say, ‘You know what, your deal is taken away from you’ — oh, man. It’s not really just the money, it’s just the love of the sport, the passion.”

Mayweather said having that happen in the prime of Rice’s career is “probably drastic on him and his wife.”

When Floyd was asked about the lawsuit brought against him last week by his ex-fiancée, Shantel Jackson, he said he’s just trying to stay positive and attributed the negativity to “jealousy and envy.”

“Like I’ve said in the past, no bumps, no bruises, no nothing,” Mayweather said. “With O.J. and Nicole, you seen pictures. With Chris Brown and Rihanna, you seen pictures. With (Chad) Ocho Cinco and Evelyn, you seen pictures. You guys have yet to see any pictures of a battered woman, a woman who says she was kicked and beaten (by Mayweather). So I just live my life and try to stay positive, and try to become a better person each and every day.”

There are no corroborating police reports with any of the incidents.

“I don’t really focus on that stuff,” Mayweather said. “You know, I’ve been facing so many obstacles throughout my life. My main thing is to just focus on my job, which is boxing.”

Floyd was jailed on a domestic violence charge in 2012 in a case involving Josie L. Harris, one of his children’s mother. He also was charged by his other daughter’s mother, Melissa Brim in 2003. Floyd’s rematch against Marcos Madiana is Saturday at the MGM in Las Vegas.

photo via @floydMayeather