LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – A judge granted a request from boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr to postpone until June his three-month jail sentence for domestic battery so the welterweight champion can compete in an upcoming bout, prosecutors said.
The ruling by Las Vegas Judge Melissa Saragosa yesterday came on the same day Mayweather was originally scheduled to turn himself in and begin serving his term.
“We opposed the request and felt he should surrender as originally planned,” said Tess Driver, a spokeswoman for the Clark County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case.
Mayweather, 34, a flamboyant boxer regarded as the best defensive fighter of his generation, is scheduled to battle an undetermined opponent on May 5 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
An attorney for World Boxing Council welterweight champion Mayweather asked the judge to postpone the sentence so he could train and compete for that May 5 fight, Driver said.
Some in the boxing world have speculated the bout could pit Mayweather against World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, which would be the most highly anticipated fight in years.
