A History of Boxers Doing Jail Bids

Tomorrow, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is due to report to a Las Vegas county jail to begin serving his 90-day sentence. The jail term stems from the boxer's assault of his ex-girlfriend in front of their children. While the current WBA (Super) light middleweight champ seemingly had no problems confronting the mother of his children, some critics have called him out for ducking a potential super fight with Manny Pacquaio. There's no saying if that bout will ever go down, but there's no doubt that Money May will have plenty of time to think things over. But Mayweather is far from the first boxer to have a stint behind bars.

Over the years, boxers have been convicted of crimes ranging from robbery and kidnapping to sexual assault and murder. So, from Iron Mike to Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, check out A History of Boxers Doing Jail Bids...

RELATED: The 10 Best Mexican Boxers Ever

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Record and Accolades: 50-4-0 (39 KOs); Former World Heavyweight Champion
Year: 1950
Crime: Robbery
Sentence / Time Served: 5 years / 28 months
To take a page out of Cudi's book, "Sonny" Liston was wild'n cuz he was young during his childhood. So much so that by the time Liston turned 20 he'd been convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to 5 years in prison. While in the slammer, Sonny learned how to box, and from all people, a Catholic priest. After getting out, he pursued a career in boxing and, as they say, the rest is history...until he faced Ali, of course.

Record and Accolades: 27-12-1 (12 KOs)
Year: 1967 and 1976
Crime: Murder
Sentence / Time Served: Life / 19 years
Wouldn't it be cool to have Denzel Washington play you in your biopic and have Bob Dylan write a song about you? Well, not if it takes enduring what Rubin "Hurricane" Carter went through.

In 1967, the middleweight boxer was convicted of a triple homicide, which occurred at a bar in New Jersey. After several inconsistencies in witness testimony and a big push for a retrial or pardon, the New Jersey Supreme court granted Carter a new trial in 1976. As with the first trial, several inconsistencies in witness testimony occurred and some of the defense witnesses even said they had been persuaded to commit perjury in the 1967 trial. The end result was another conviction. But in 1985, an appeal to the federal court resulted in Carter's release, with the judge reasoning that the prosecution had been "predicated upon an appeal to racism rather than reason, and concealment rather than disclosure." If all that wasn't enough, in 1996 59-year-old Carter was arrested in Toronto when officers mistakenly identified him as a 30-something-year old suspect said to have sold drugs to an undercover officer. Carter was later released. SMH.

Record and Accolades: 58-5-0 (33 KOs); Former WBC Lightweight Champion
Year: 1981
Crime: Murder
Sentence / Time Served: Life / 7 years (Pardoned due to terminal illness)
An important quality that separates a good boxer from a great one is how well that person can make split-second decisions. However, one bad choice by Esteban De Jesús (pictured on the right) over a traffic dispute in Puerto Rico led to the death of a 17-year-old kid. De Jesús was given life in prison for the murder, but only served seven years after he was diagnosed with AIDS and was subsequently pardoned by governor Rafael Hernández Colón. One month after being pardoned, he died, at the young age of 37.

Record and Accolades: 52-5-2 (32 KOs); Current Ring Magazine and Light Heavyweight Champion
Year: 1982
Crime: Strong-Arm Robbery
Sentence / Time Served: 18 years / 56 months
One of the most successful fighters in recent history almost missed out on his career after being sentenced to 18 years for an armed robbery at the age of 17. During his stint, Hopkins discovered his love of boxing and turned pro upon his release in 1988. Over two decades, 55 wins, and a few world titles later, Hopkins is still a defending champ at the age of 46. For as much as our prison system fucks people's lives up forever, it actually did some good in this rare case.

Record and Accolades: 31-2-0 (27 KOs)
Year: 1983
Crime: Rape
Sentence / Time Served: 35 years / 16 years
What's one quick way to screw up a pro record of 22-0 and a career destined for championship belts? Well, you do what Tony Ayala Jr did. On New Year's 1983, the 19-year-old boxer broke into the home of his neighbor and raped her. Due to prior incidents of violence towards women, he was sentenced to serve 35 years. Upon his release in 1999, Ayala returned to the ring, winning six fights, all via knockouts. His legal problems outside the ring would continue though, as he was sentenced to a decade in 2004 for violating his probation after being caught driving without a license and in possession of drug paraphernalia.

Record and Accolades: 20-8-2 (8 KOs)
Year: 1986
Crime: Assault, Criminal Possession of a Weapon, Conspiracy
Sentence / Time Served: 3 years / 30 months
Luis Resto (pictured on the right) will forever be remembered for his part in one of the ugliest moments in boxing (and sports) history. After his 1983 bout with Billy Collins Jr., Resto was found to be using thinly padded gloves and hand wraps cast in plaster of Paris. Resto and his trainer, Panama Lewis, were later convicted of assault and other charges; the boxer was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison. Collins' boxing career came to an eventual end, the result of permanent eye damage. Less than a year later, Collins ran his car into a ditch, killing himself instantly. Damn, does this sport have any happy endings?

Record and Accolades: 87-3-9 (59 KOs); Former World Middleweight Champion
Year: 1988
Crime: Murder
Sentence / Time Served: 11 years / 6 years (Died during his sentence)
Carlos Monzon loved to fight and for the most part, he came out victorious. However, his fights usually didn't stay within the confines of the ropes. During an altercation with his first wife, Monzon was shot in the leg. Evidently, the Argentine boxer did not learn from the failures of his first marriage and in 1989 he was convicted for the homicide of his second wife. In the middle of his jail stint, the man they called "Escopeta" was given time away from prison to visit his family and during his return trip in 1995, he died in a car crash.

Record and Accolades: 49-11-1 (33 KOs); Former WBC Heavyweight Champion
Year: 1992
Crime: Sexual Assault
Sentence / Time Served: 5 years / 15 months
Many people who don't follow boxing may have never heard of Trevor Berbick, but even then there's probably a good chance you've seen his epic fail, which came against a young Mike Tyson. Anyway, nearly a decade after that fight, the Jamaican boxer had another epic fail when he was convicted of sexually assaulting his children's babysitter. Only months after his release, he was deported for violating his parole. SMH, didn't he know that the whole babysitter fantasy only goes down in cheap porn flicks? Or with call girls. Not that we know about that kind of thing...

Record and Accolades : 50-6-0 (44 KOs); Former Undisputed Heavyweight Champion
Year: 1992
Crime: Rape
Sentence / Time Served: 6 years / 3 years
Want to know the exact moment when it all started going downhill for Iron Mike? July 19, 1991. Mike Tyson held a record of 41-1 when he was convicted of raping 18-year-old Desiree Washington in an Indianapolis hotel room. The former Miss Black Rhode Island claimed the boxer forced himself in the early morning. The Baddest Man on the Planet was convicted and spent three years of his prime behind bars. He was released from prison in March 1995 and would take the WBA Heavyweight title in 1996. Tyson would later lose his title to Evander Holyfield during what become known as infamous "Bite Fight." You know that saying, "I've lived the lives of several men?" Some dudes talk about it while others live it. Iron Mike is most definitely in the latter group.

Record and Accolades: 28-6-1 (18 KOs); Former UBF champion
Year: 1993
Crime: Drug Trafficking
Sentence / Time Served: 5 years / 3 years
Floyd Mayweather, Sr. went to jail on some interesting terms. From 1987 to 1992, he and a couple colleagues were smuggling cocaine into the United States in detergent boxes. In 1993, he was eventually caught, charged with drug trafficking, and served three of the five years in jail. Boxing x jail bids? Like father, like son.

Record and Accolades: 43-1-0 (33 KOs); Former Undisputed Heavyweight Champion
Year: 2000
Crime: Kidnapping
Sentence / Time Served: 18 months / 17 months
Of all the professional sports out there, boxing has more hard knocks stories than any other. Riddick Bowe is no exception, as he came from a background of poverty and violence, growing up in Brooklyn's Brownsville neighborhood. He rose to become heavyweight champ of the world, only to go broke and suffer serious legal problems a few years later. The most significant and bizarre of those problems came when he kidnapped his wife and kids at his wife's home in North Carolina, and then threatened them with a knife, handcuffs, duct tape, and pepper spray. His defense argued that he had brain damage from years of fighting and the judge subsequently sentenced him to 30 days. That sentence was later overturned, and he was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Kidnapping your family and threatening them with weapons? Yeah, seems like dude definitely suffered one too many shots to the dome.

Record and Accolades: 48-3-1 (42 KOs); Former WBO Heavyweight Champion
Year: 2000
Crime: Possession of Drugs and Weapons
Sentence / Time Served: 2 years / 14 months
Some boxers, like many other athletes, have a hard time doing constructive things after retirement— especially if they're forced to leave the sport they love. Such was the case for Tommy Morrison, who tested positive for HIV in 1996. His career over, Morrison went on to be arrested for everything from drunk driving and assault to drug and weapon possession. The drugs and weapons landed him in prison for over a year. It's funny how those self-knockouts in one's personal life are way worse than the ones that come in the ring.

Record and Accolades: 58-4-0 (37 KOs); Former IBF Middleweight Champion and WBA Super Middleweight Champion
Year: 2002
Crime: Conspiracy to Distribute
Sentence / Time Served: 292 months / currently incarcerated
Before the infamous Sam Hurd incident, there was Michael Nunn and his stroke of stupidity. While staying at a hotel in Davenport, Iowa, Nunn was arrested for purchasing one kilogram of cocaine from an undercover agent. In 2003, he was found guilty on one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. After word got out of Nunn's history of drug trafficking, he was sentenced to 292 months in federal prison. Guess who cannot wait for June 16, 2024, to roll around?

Record And Accolades: 20-0-0 (15 KOs)
Year: 2002
Crime: Battery, Attempted Sexual Assault
Sentence / Time Served: 2 to 20 years / Currently incarcerated
Ike Ibeabuchi's brief boxing career was a wildly successful one. His 20-0-0 record, with 15 wins by knockout, testify to his greatness. But his career came to a sudden halt after he was found guilty of attempting to rape a stripper in a Vegas hotel room. The terms of his two sentences were as follows: 2 to 10 years for battery with intent to commit a crime, followed by 3 to 20 years for attempted sexual assault.

In 2001, he was paroled on the first charge, but has been denied parole on the second charge 3 times. Ibeabuchi will not have another hearing until May 1, 2012. At that time, he will be 39-years-old, and with no comeback in sight, we are left wondering what might've come of this promising talent.

Record and Accolades: 40-4-1 (17 KOs); Former WBA, WBC, and IBF Welterweight Champion
Year: 2003
Crime: Possession of Controlled Substance; Probation Violation
Sentence / Time Served: 27 months / 27 months
During his boxing career, Pernell Whitaker won often and held many titles. But outside of the ring Whitaker faced an opponent he just could not dodge: the law. After serving a mere four days for cocaine possession in 2001, the court ruled that Whitaker had violated his probation and would be forced to serve a huge 27-month bid, starting in 2003. Who would've thought that the long arm of the law was capable of such damaging blows?

Record and Accolades: 20-5-0 (12 KOs); Former USBA Super Middleweight Champion
Year: 2004
Crime: Murder
Sentence / Time Served: 29 years, 4 months / Currently incarcerated
When Sam Kellerman, brother of analyst Max Kellerman, was murdered in 2004, many people pointed fingers at his friend of ten years, boxer James "The Harlem Hammer" Butler. But it wasn't until two years later that Butler plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter and arson in Kellerman's death. In a case of ill-fated irony, it is believed that a hammer was the weapon used in the murder. #youcantmakethisshitup

Record And Accolades: 26-0-0 (19 KOs); Former WBO Middleweight Champion
Year: 2005
Crime: Culpable Homicide
Sentence / Time Served: 2 years / 2 years
One minute you're a world champion boxer, the next you're behind bars, thinking about what was. Harry Simon knows all about this sad scenario. Simon was the WBO Middleweight champion just months before he killed a Belgian family of three in a car accident. He was found guilty of "culpable homicide" and sentenced to two years. Damn—drive slow, homie.

Record and Accolades: 30-1-0 (27 KOs); Former WBO NABO light middleweight champion
Year: 2009
Crime: Gun Possession
Sentence / Time Served: 2 years / 17 months
James Kirkland has served a ton of time in prison for brandishing a gun on two separate occasions. The first time, dude served 30 months for armed robbery. He followed that up by getting another 24 months after a routine traffic stop led to the discovery of a firearm in his car. So when we say that Kirkland loves to show off his guns, do you really know what we mean?

Record and Accolades : 27-0-0 (27 KOs); Former WBA Super Featherweight Champion and former WBC Lightweight Champion
Year: 2010
Crime: Assaulting his wife.
Sentence / Time Served: 6 months
Whenever Edwin Valero fought, he wouldn't just win the fight, he would beat down his opponent. Unfortunately, that same mentality went into how he settled his feuds outside the ring. In 2009, Valero faced assault charges when he was accused of attacking his mother and sister during an altercation. One year after his own mother denied the allegations, the Venezuelan boxer was caught up in another assault charge. But this time, the charges involved his own wife. He then spent six months in a psychiatric hospital. Things got way out of hand when Edwin was a prime suspect in the murder of his wife in Valencia, Venezuela. After being taken into custody, Valero reportedly confessed to murdering his wife and was found hanging from his prison cell the very next day

Record and Accolades: 42-0-0 (26 KOs); Current WBC Welterweight Champion
Year: 2011
Crime: Battery
Sentence / Time Served: 90 days
As if there weren't already enough obstacles standing in the way of a Pacquaio v. Maywather super fight, this had to happen. In all seriousness though, the crime Mayweather admitted to is disturbing. The champ plead guilty to assaulting the mother of his kids while in front of their children in September of 2010. Mayweather has faced domestic violence and assault charges before (2002, 2004, 2005) but never received more than suspended sentences, fines, community service, and house arrest. The three months in the can this summer is well-deserved but we think a mandatory bout with Pacquiao, with Mayweather's entire purse going to a domestic violence charity, would be more suitable.