Boxer hit with charges

Friday, March 12, 2004 | 11:09 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Lightweight boxing champion Floyd Mayweather will face a felony charge for hitting the mother of his three children, a Clark County prosecutor said this morning.

Prosecutors filed a complaint charging Mayweather, 27, with his third offense of battery constituting domestic violence, during a brief hearing this morning before Justice of the Peace Douglas Smith. Mayweather did not attend the hearing.

Mayweather has two previous domestic battery convictions in Clark County, Chief Deputy District Attorney Alexandra Chrysanthis said. State law allows a third domestic battery offense to be treated as a felony.

Mayweather was not required to appear during this morning's hearing. Smith set a status check hearing for April 23. Mayweather could enter his plea at that time, Chrysanthis said.

Karen Winckler, one of Mayweather's attorneys who appeared in court this morning, declined to speak to reporters following the hearing. Richard Wright, a second attorney, has said Mayweather is not guilty of the charge against him.

The 24-year-old woman pressing the case prompting the most recent charge declined to pursue charges in previous cases, but was cooperating with police following her complaint that Mayweather hit her early Dec. 27 at a Las Vegas nightclub, Metro Police Sgt. Chuck Pierce said.

She was not hospitalized, the police sergeant said.

Police spokesman Enrique Hernandez said authorities have handled at least four domestic violence reports against Mayweather since March 2001.

Mayweather has two other misdemeanor battery complaints pending in Las Vegas, according to court records.

One stems from an Oct. 8 complaint that he hit a woman. The case was rescheduled Thursday for trial July 26.

The other, filed Nov. 20, includes two counts of misdemeanor battery alleging Mayweather hit another woman. It is scheduled for trial March 25.

Sun reporter Erica Johnson and the Associated Press contributed to this story.