Floyd Mayweather Jr., the world’s best boxer who has been incarcerated in Las Vegas since June 1, will be released from jail in as early as Thursday night, a Las Vegas police spokesman said.
Mayweather, the unbeaten world super-welterweight champion, was convicted of a 2010 domestic violence crime against the mother of his three children and sentenced to 90 days in the Clark County Detention Center.
But he was eligible for early release based on good behavior. Jail officials informed Mayweather’s attorney that additional inmates coming into the jail might accelerate the boxer’s release, according to a person familiar with the situation but unauthorized to speak publicly about it.
Mayweather’s official release date is Friday, but Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Dept. spokesman Bill Cassell said “historically, inmates can be processed out the night before.”
Mayweather’s attorneys attempted to gain him house arrest, arguing in a court filing that the boxer was losing significant strength and could find his career threatened by restrictions on nutrition and exercise. That argument was denied by a justice of the peace who presided over Mayweather’s case.
Mayweather (43-0, 26 knockouts) had his jail sentence postponed from earlier this year so he could fight Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto, whom Mayweather, 35, defeated by unanimous decision May 5 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
It is unclear whom Mayweather will fight next, or when.
Repeated failed efforts to stage a fight against superstar Manny Pacquiao are not expected to be reignited. Pacquiao is in the Philippines and could select his next opponent by Friday, promoter Bob Arum said last week. And Mayweather and Arum have major beef, prompting notions that the fight might not ever be made.
Pacquiao could opt for a rematch with Timothy Bradley, who defeated him by a controversial split decision in November, take a fourth fight against Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez or have a rematch with Cotto, Arum said.
