Sports associations and athletic brands have become more sensitive and cautious especially after recent news of domestic violence involving NFL running back Ray Rice surfaced. Recently, Floyd Mayweather is once again the subject of scrutiny.
In a report by Daily Mail, court papers revealed that the undefeated boxer reportedly put his ex-fiancée, Shantel Jackson, under physical and emotional abuse throughout the eight years that they were together. Prior to their fallout, the two met when Shantel was only 21 years old and working at an Atlanta event as a hostess.
Jackson, 29 years old, indicated that she will file a case against Mayweather. She cited several bad experiences with Mayweather which caused her "pain, mental anguish, hurt feelings, suffering and humiliation". Shantel said that she will seek unspecified damages for assault, battery, invasion of privacy, defamation, harassment, false imprisonment and infliction of emotional distress.
Daily Mail added that during a press conference, Jackson claimed that Floyd beat her and uploaded a photo of an ultrasound scan of their twin babies "she had aborted" on the Internet. In one incident, 37-year-old Floyd allegedly choked her and twisted her arm. There was also another incident where he allegedly pointed a gun at her and threatened to shoot. The model added that Mayweather threatened to publish her nude photos which he secretly took while she was sleeping and also stole several of her personal belongings, worth thousands of dollars.
According to the court files obtained by the Daily Mail, Floyd verbally abused Jackson, calling her "bum", "sh*t" and "b*tch", among others.
Jackson's relationship with Mayweather has been on-and-off in the past several years. Shantel temporarily moved out of their Las Vegas residence to transfer to Los Angeles the documents reportedly revealed. However, Mayweather was able to woo her back. Their relationship went sour again and she was allegedly kept a "prisoner" in Floyd's home. She had the opportunity to escape in June 2014 when Mayweather was not in Las Vegas, the report noted.
The suit is set to be tried in 2016 by a jury in Los Angeles. The trial will last for seven days, based on the court documents.
In a blog on Bloguin.com, Mayweather was accused of domestic violence before. He was jailed for two months in 2012 for domestic violence against Josie Harris. He was also alleged to have abused Melissa Brim, the mother of one of his kids. Floyd's defense in these accusations was, "Where are the pictures?"