Early on in his boxing career, Floyd Mayweather was met with ‘The Drunken Master’, who Mayweather went on to claim was his toughest opponent ever.
Throughout his incredible career in boxing, Floyd Mayweather shared the ring with several all-time greats, including the likes of Manny Pacquiao, Oscar De La Hoya, and even Canelo Alvarez.
However, having faced a who’s who of boxing royalty, one fighter he shared the ring with near the beginning of his career stood out to him.
And that is the famous ‘Drunken Master’, Emanuel Augustus, who Mayweather shared the ring with on October 21, 2000, when he was a budding star in the sport.
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In October 1998, Mayweather kicked off the start of his career as a champion when he dominated Genaro Hernandez to become the WBC super featherweight champion at just 21 years old.
After five incredibly impressive title defenses, in 2000 he was matched up against Emanuel Augustus, who was widely regarded as a solid test for Mayweather at that stage in his career.
Although at the time of the fight Augustus was going into it with a record of 22-16-4, he was deemed to be on the wrong end of some extremely questionable decisions on several occasions.
Early into the fight, the younger Mayweather looked to utilise his clear speed advantage, and was working on the body of the 25-year-old.
Augustus’ ‘drunken’ style didn’t prove difficult for Floyd early in the fight as the young star managed to land heavy shots on the body and head of his opponent, despite his awkward showboating style.
However, every time Mayweather seemingly landed a big shot, he was greeted with a smile from his opponent. And at the end of round one during a brief stare down, ‘The Drunken Master’ blew Mayweather a kiss, which visibly fired him up.
Despite controlling the majority of the fight, Mayweather’s nose was bloodied up by the veteran during some tough exchanges.
And then in round nine after a back-and-forth affair that was dominated by Mayweather for the large part, Augustus’ team threw in the towel.
