A cocky Floyd Mayweather was once given a bloody lesson in a tough sparring session, which ensured he always remains in shape as he prepares for next fight

Floyd Mayweather was the finest boxer of his generation and it could be argued he’s in the conversation when it comes to discussing the greatest fighters of all-time.

However, it took one particular harsh lesson en route to achieving the titles and a 50-0 record. Back when Mayweather was just a 20-year-old kid, he was shown the importance of being in top shape.

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A cocky Mayweather, who was 13-0 at the time and only two years removed from winning a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, visited Paul Spadafora, an American who had just become the IBF lightweight champion.

Visiting Spadafora just days out from the Pittsburgh man’s first defence of his IBF lightweight world championship, Mayweather was given six rounds with the champion as a warm up.

But he got worked over so badly by the sharp world champion that he tried quitting in the fourth round, but Spadafora’s trainer, Jesse Reid, said no.

“It’s the reason he’s never out of shape,” Spadafora’s legendary trainer Reid said some years later.

“And [why] he never lets people tape his sparring.”

Of course, there’s no shame in coming up short against a world champion in his gym. Mayweather had only been a professional for two years and wasn’t in shape. Spadafora, meanwhile, was 49-1-1 with his only loss coming in his penultimate fight and the draw in a world title unification fight.

Describing what unfolded in the sparring session to FightHype, Reid continued: “[Mayweather’s] nose is bleeding and that eye looks like it’s swelling up, and he keeps crackin ’em.

“Finally in the fourth round Mayweather comes to me and asks me if he can get out of the ring because he says he’s tired.

“I says, ‘you ain’t getting out of the ring, you’re getting your ass kicked today to teach you for all the big mouth of you and your father’.”

Reid says he taught Mayweather to always be in shape and as he approaches 45, his cut physique is certainly evidence of that.

Mayweather never lost inside a boxing ring – at least officially – but the loss he took in that Pittsburgh gym proved invaluable.

Now, he’s back in the gym and training for another money-spinning exhibition.

On 14 May, he will take on Don Moore, in Dubai, and showed he still has the skills that made him a legend.