Long before he became ‘Money’, Floyd Mayweather was a spiteful young boxer who had a nasty streak and an unrivalled drive to be the best.

Fans from the current generation are today well accustomed to seeing the 50-0 boxer parading his wealth and flaunting cars, property, jewellery and businesses while taking on lucrative exhibitions.

Yet Mayweather was once renowned as ‘Pretty Boy’; a brash brawler with undoubted skills who looked to finish fights with spite and venom.

This was perhaps never better exemplified than in just his third pro fight following his controversial defeat at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta to Serafim Todorov.

Fighting at super-featherweight, Mayweather needed just 25 seconds to land a left jab to the body of journeyman Jerry Cooper, dropping him, as he clowned about and posed.

The gulf in class soon became apparent.

The future five-weight world champion then unloaded a barrage of punches - 27 without reply - once referee Mitch Halpern allowed 23-year-old Cooper to continue, putting him through the ropes and onto the ring apron.

Cooper protested the stoppage, yet Halpern insisted he did not answer him when asked if he was okay to continue after the vicious onslaught from Mayweather.

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Interestingly enough, Mayweather earned just $7,500 for the 1997 clash, a far cry from the nine figures he earned in the later stages of his career – including a minimum $100million (£74m) for facing Conor McGregor in his final fight.

Nowadays, he travels the globe putting on shows for fans who still want to see him in the ring.

Having taken on YouTubers Deji and Logan Paul and Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa among others, he is travelling to London next.

At the O2, 'Money' will put on a show against former mixed martial artist and reality TV star Aaron Chalmers.

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