No Foul Play Suspected in the Death of Floyd Mayweather’s Ex, Josie Harris

Josie Harris, the ex-girlfriend of boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr and the mother of three of his four children, was found dead late Tuesday night (March 10) in her car which was parked outside her home in Valencia, CA. There is no suspicion of foul play. Harris was 40 years old.

During their tumultuous relationship, Harris (pictured with Mayweather outside the Mayweather Boxing Club during happier times) alleged on several occasions that the boxer had assaulted her. In December of 2003, she filed charges against him pertaining to an incident in a vehicle outside a Las Vegas nightclub. At a July 2005 hearing, she rescinded her allegation, testifying that Floyd was a “teddy bear “who had never laid a hand on her.

In September of 2010, she alleged that Mayweather had assaulted her in her Las Vegas home with two of their children present after she told him that she had been dating another man, namely NBA basketball player C.J. Watson. Largely on the written statement of Mayweather’s son, then 10 years old, the boxer was arrested on charges that could have netted him up to 34 years in prison.

Mayweather served three days in jail before he was released on his own recognizance. The charges against him were ultimately reduced to misdemeanor battery and two counts of harassment for threatening to harm his children if they reported the confrontation.

Mayweather’s lead attorney was high-profile criminal defense lawyer Richard Wright. (Wright was also part of the legal defense team for Portuguese soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo who was accused of raping a model in his penthouse suite at a Las Vegas hotel in 2009. That case wasn’t finally put to rest until this year when the matter was resolved in a confidential arbitration hearing.)

In December of 2011, Mayweather pleaded guilty to the reduced charges and was sentenced to 87 days in jail and fined $2,500 (the loose change under the cushions of his couch, said the wags). He was also ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and complete a domestic violence counseling program.

Justice of the Peace Melissa Siragusa ordered Mayweather to start his sentence on Jan. 6, but his lawyers succeeded in getting his incarceration postponed until after his May 5 fight with Miguel Cotto which had already been scheduled. Mayweather completed his community service obligation before turning himself in at the Las Vegas Detention Center. He was released on good behavior after serving two months.

Mayweather continued to have problems with the women in his life. At the time of the 2010 incident at Josie Harris’s home, the boxer was living with Shantel Jackson, his future fiancée. After they broke up in 2013, Mayweather revealed on one of his social media pages that during their relationship she had an abortion.

Ms. Jackson hired the prominent attorney Gloria Allred who filed a lawsuit against Mayweather alleging “assault, battery, defamation, invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress and harassment.” Mayweather counter-sued, accusing her of stealing some of his property and using his credit cards without his permission.

The rift between Mayweather and Josie Harris bubbled up again after an interview of Mayweather by Katie Couric in April of 2014 during which he declared that Josie was on drugs when the incident happened that sent him off to jail and that he was merely restraining her. She denied being a drug abuser and filed a defamation lawsuit against him seeking $20 million in damages.

The late Ms. Harris stayed in the news after breaking up with Floyd by appearing on a TV reality show. His former fiancée Shantel Jackson began a relationship with the rapper “Nelly.” Each of them reportedly had a “tell-all” book in development.

Floyd Mayweather Jr has been in Western Europe this month. During a stopover in Newcastle, England, he made news when he expressed an interest in purchasing the city’s Premier League soccer club (the team’s current valuation is $318 million). Today he is in the Netherlands where he was spotted flashing a big roll of cash during a tour of Amsterdam’s famous red light district.

This past Saturday, while Floyd was in Europe, his charitable foundation sponsored its fifth annual 5K “Fight for Fitness” at Las Vegas’ Sunset Park. The event is designed to encourage people to adopt a healthier lifestyle. The larger mission of the Floyd Mayweather Jr Foundation, according to its web site, is to “empower community alliances, impact youth leadership, promote health and wellness, and strengthen family foundations through community development, entrepreneurialism, and education resulting in a wholesome community.”

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