FILE PHOTO: World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (L) of the U.S. works on his timing with his uncle and trainer Roger Mayweather at the Mayweather Boxing Club in Las Vegas, Nevada April 22, 2014. REUTERS/Steve Marcus
(Reuters) – Roger Mayweather, trainer to nephew and champion boxer Floyd Mayweather, has died at 58, U.S. media reported on Tuesday.
Before becoming a legendary cornerman, the Grand Rapids, Michigan native was a champion in his own right.
“The Black Mamba” held the WBA and lineal super featherweight titles in the mid-1980s and the WBC light welterweight title later that same decade.
He held the IBO light welterweight title and IBO welterweight titles in the mid-1990s and finished with a 59-13 professional record.
He first began working with Floyd in the late 1990s and over 12 years helped shape him into one of the best pound-for-pound boxers of all time, amassing an unblemished 50-0 record.
No cause of death has been released.
The loss of Roger is the second major blow to Floyd this month.
Last week his ex-girlfriend and the mother of three of his children, Josie Harris, was found dead inside a car in her driveway in Valencia, California.
Floyd responded by posting a series of photos of the couple on Instagram as a tribute to her.
Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Ken Ferris