Although Mayweather experienced much success throughout his boxing career, his early life was plagued with tribulations. Floyd came from a long line of boxers, including his father and uncles. He began boxing at a young age, and his grandmother was the first to see his potential.

“I think my grandmother saw my potential first,” he said in an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine in 2010. “When I was young, I told her, ‘I think I should get a job,’ she said, ‘No, just keep boxing.’”

That encouragement was what fueled him to become the champion that he is today, along with the determination to live a better life than his elders. His mother was addicted to drugs and his aunt died from AIDS as a result of drug use. Floyd’s father was incarcerated during his early childhood. His grandmother raised him and his sister when she could, but he was often left to fend for himself.

After years of consecutive wins against big boxing names such as Diego Carrales, Carlos Hernandez, DeMarcus Corley and Arturo Gatti, Mayweather retired from boxing in 2007. Since then, he has emerged only to fight the one-comeback fight against McGregor in 2017. Mayweather has demonstrated his dominance as a fighter throughout the past two decades and left his mark on popular culture. He represents the resounding appeal of the American Dream by using his story as a reminder that where you come from does not ultimately define you. He has left his mark on the boxing world as one of the greatest fighters ever to compete in the sport.

Photo courtesy of Boxing News

The sport combines playing chess and boxing, although the two are not done simultaneously. The sport tests both the brains and brawn of athletes. The sport originates from the French comic strip “Froid Equater.” The comic featured a scene including a world chess boxing championship in 1992. During the 1970s a different and informal version of chess boxing existed at a boxing club in London, although there is no link between this and the official sport.

A fight in chess boxing consists of alternating between six rounds of chess and five rounds of boxing. Both of the individual events follow the same essential rules that are followed normally. There are weight classes in to which competitors fall, just like in normal boxing. There are also time limits during the chess rounds, as is typical of chess tournaments.

There are some rules unique to this sport. If there is a tie, whichever opponent has the most points in the boxing rounds is declared the winner. If there is still a tie after that, the competitor who used the black chess pieces is the winner. This rule has not been used in practice yet at a large tournament, and not much information is available as to why it is the rule.

A winner is declared during regulation time if any of the following occurs: knockout, technical knockout, checkmate, exceeding the time limit during a chess round, disqualification by the referee or competitor resignation. If none of these happen the winner is determined using the rules for tie-breaking.

The chess boxing world championship was organized by the World Chess Boxing Organization from 2003 until 2013 and is now run by Chess Boxing Global. Both of these organizations aim to unite chess boxing clubs from around the world and promote the sport.

There are chess boxing clubs globally and in the United States. The sport is particularly popular in Europe. Unfortunately, there is no club here in the Kansas City area. The closest club is the Los Angeles Chess Boxing Club.