Before all the money and fame, Floyd Mayweather was just another boxing prospect who was turned upside down when he achieved his dream of becoming a world champion.
The impressive American won a world title in 1998 at just 21 years old by recording 17 consecutive victories and 13 knockouts in less than two years as a professional boxer.
Genaro Hernandez was a two-time world champion who had only suffered one loss in 40 fights, that loss to Oscar De La Hoya that stopped him in 1995 for the WBO lightweight title.
Three years later, he had lost weight and was in possession of the WBC super featherweight title when Mayweather came for the first of his 15 world championship belts.
A lot of people thought the youngster was biting off more than he could chew against an established champion, but he beat Hernandez and had him dropped in the corner late in the eighth round.
Mayweather first burst into a celebration climbing the ropes before the moment got the better of him and he collapsed to his knees and started crying tears of joy.
Hernandez never fought again after his loss to Mayweather and died in 2011 after battling cancer with the help of Hall of Fame boxing promoter Bob Arum, who paid his hospital bills.
Mayweather quietly covered the cost of Hernandez’s funeral before explaining why nine years later in a chat with rapper Fat Joe that shed light on his emotional reaction to his 1998 victory.
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He said, “When I was 16 I had a poster on my wall, because you remember when we were young we used to have posters on our wall. Young children don’t do that anymore.
“I had a poster, right above my head, Genaro ‘Chicanito’ Hernandez. And I was watching him fight on TV and I was saying nobody’s gonna beat this guy. I was 16 years old.
“Five years later, I was in front of this guy, fighting for the championship.
“And then he ended up passing away, I ended up taking care of his funeral and I continued to communicate with his family because he was the first guy who gave me my chance.
“I was ranked 8th and he was world champion, and he didn’t have to give me a chance. But fighting me was at that particular time was his fight for big money, so we made that happen.
Mayweather won world titles at five weights in his perfect 50-fight career that included high profile victories over Manny Pacquiao, Oscar De La Hoya, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, Ricky Hatton and Conor McGregor.
The 45-year-old ended his professional boxing career in 2017, but he continues to earn millions fighting rookies like YouTuber Logan Paul and Deji.
On Saturday, he will face Geordie Shore star Aaron Chalmers, who recently picked up a decisive victory in his professional boxing debut following a seven-fight career in MMA.
This will be Mayweather’s sixth time fighting since retiring and it certainly won’t be the last as former UFC champion Jose Aldo, who had a memorable bout with Conor McGregor, already lined up for a fight with the later boxing legend. This year.
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