By Vitali Shaposhnikov: As some of you may have already seen, probably most of you actually, this is a link to a jail cell identical to that in which Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be serving his 90-day sentence (http://sports.yahoo.com/box/blog/box_experts/post/Floyd-Mayweather-8217-s-jail-cell-will-look-lik?urn=box-wp887).
Of course as the authorities have mentioned, good behavior will cut down the time of his sentence significantly, so it is possible that Mayweather Jr. could be out in less than two months.
Still, a cell of this size could drive any man crazy, but especially a man that has a closet the size of a one bedroom apartment. It looks like there is very little room for anything, and a workout in a room like that is probably impossible.
After seeing this picture, I thought of a person I know who have had an experience with living in such conditions. He was an athlete at the time when circumstances landed him in a cell just like that, and had some interesting things to say about the effects that it can have on a sportsman.
First of all, he talked about the fact that a bed like that is very uncomfortable, and it’s better to take off the mattress and sleep on the bare surface. Uncomfortable sleeping over even short periods of time, can really change a man’s posture, and mess with their flexibility and free range movement. Sure it’s not permanent, but does usually require some recovery time.
Food: As far as general diet in jail goes, while its not junk food, its pretty close to it nutritionally. It can have a decent taste, and the full range of essential vitamins; still, it is not a diet an athlete could/should follow. Yes we have all seen and heard that Floyd loves his junk food, but don’t be fooled, for months prior to any of his fights, he has a number of chefs feeding him the proper athlete oriented diet. Thus food seems to be another concern when spending time in such place.
Of course morally and mentally a person is challenged while alone in a small space like that. Some say it makes people think, others say it drives them mad. Floyd is a very social person, rarely alone and rarely bored. In a setting like that, who knows what time and quiet will do to this man?
May 5th was the date set for Mayweather Jr. to fight his next opponent and even after learning that he was sentences to a 90 day term; still I believed that he would and should fight on that date. If able to get out earlier, I thought, he would still have a month and a half to train and prepare for his title defense. Now after giving it more thought and learning about what this sentence might do to Floyd, I think that maybe changing the date to a later time might be a good idea.