Boxer hit with charge

Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. was arrested and booked on a grand larceny charge related to Thursday's domestic violence incident with an ex-girlfriend, Las Vegas police said Friday.

He was booked into the Clark County Detention Center about 10:45 a.m., and released about three hours later after posting bail.

The charge stems from personal items Mayweather, 33, took from ex-girlfriend Josie Harris' house Thursday morning, including her cell phone.

Police have not arrested Mayweather for misdemeanor domestic violence because an arrest must be made within 24 hours of the crime. After that, the case must be submitted to the district attorney's office for review. Capt. Brett Zimmerman, who oversees the Crimes Against Youth and Family Bureau, said police will submit their case to prosecutors.

"We're going through all the proper channels," he said.

Zimmerman said Mayweather voluntarily met police for questioning about 9 a.m. Friday.

The grand larceny charge was related to Harris' missing cell phone, said Mayweather's lawyer, Richard Wright.

"Josie can't find her iPhone," Wright said. "We're attempting to find it or replace it. He did not commit grand larceny. We expect that to be resolved."

As for any domestic violence charge, Wright said his client would cooperate with police in any investigation, "if there is one."

A temporary protection order filed by Harris, who has three children with the boxer, was obtained Friday by the Review-Journal. Harris said Mayweather punched her in the head, pulled her hair and tried to break her arm after entering her home as she slept.

Harris said Mayweather "let himself in" to her home in the 3800 block of Tropical Vine Street at about 2 a.m. and began searching through her belongings.

After she confronted Mayweather, he accused her of dating another man, she wrote in the report.

"He would 'have me and my guy friend taken care of,'" she said Mayweather told her.

Harris called Las Vegas police and officers escorted Mayweather from the home about 3 a.m., she said.

Several hours later, Mayweather returned to the home, knocked on their son's bedroom door and asked to be let in.

Harris, who was sleeping on a couch, woke to find Mayweather standing over her, she said. Mayweather pulled her off the couch and began assaulting her in front of their children, she said.

Harris said she told the children to call 911 or run outside to get help, but Mayweather said "if they ran or tried to call the police he would beat them the same way," she said.

Mayweather followed the children outside and Harris fled to the garage, she said. Mayweather yelled he was going to kill Harris and her boyfriend and "make sure we are taken care of," she wrote. He then drove away in his car.

After the incident Harris was taken to Southern Hills Hospital and Medical Center, where she was treated for minor injuries and released.

Harris said Mayweather also visited her home a week and a half before the incident and threatened her about a new boyfriend. Police were called, but Mayweather left before officers arrived, she wrote.

Harris has accused Mayweather of domestic violence in the past, only to recant her story or stop cooperating with police. In December 2003, she told Las Vegas police that he assaulted her outside a nightclub during an argument over another woman. But at the July 2005 trial, Harris testified that she had lied about being beaten. She told the jury that Mayweather was a "teddy bear" who had never laid a hand on her. The jury acquitted Mayweather of the felony domestic violence charge.

He was charged with a felony because it was his third domestic violence case in seven years. In 2002, he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor domestic violence charges. In 2005, he was convicted in the unprovoked beating of two women in the Ra nightclub at Luxor and received a suspended one-year jail sentence and an order to undergo counseling.

Earlier this year, one of Mayweather's bodyguards was arrested and charged with shooting at another man in a Las Vegas skating rink parking lot. The shooting happened after Mayweather confronted the victim over a text message from a few months earlier.

Mayweather currently does not hold a world championship boxing title but has won nine championships in five different weight classes.

He was rated by The Ring Magazine as the No. 1 "pound for pound" fighter from July 18, 2005, to June 2008. The magazine named him Fighter of the Year in 1998 and 2007, and the Boxing Writers Association of America selected him as Fighter of the Year in 2007.

Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283. Contact reporter Brian Haynes at bhaynes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0281.