Floyd Mayweather, Jr. 'a Broken Person', Says Muhammad Ali's Daughter Laila

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. has earned the wrath of Muhammad Ali's daughter after claiming he was greater than the former world heavyweight boxing champion. Mayweather takes on Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas on Saturday in what is being billed as the 'fight of the century'.(Boxers Saluted by Lively Crowd)

Mayweather has a reputation for talk as brash as his opulent lifestyle, needling opponents in the tradition of Muhammad Ali and other great boxers to whom Mayweather (47-0) likes to compare himself. But Laila, a former world champion, is not amused.(Surprisingly Less Fight in Fighters)

Muhammad Ali's daughter has called Floyd Mayweather Jr "a little boy". Mayweather suggested he was a greater fighter and had done more for boxing than Ali.

"I don't agree that he's better than Muhammad Ali," Laila Ali said on CBS Sports. "That's a whole other conversation, but I [also] think about the man my father is outside the ring."

Laila, who finished her eight-year boxing career with a 24-0 record, said the man dubbed 'Money' is "a broken person".

"I know Floyd. I know his family," she said. "Roger Mayweather, Floyd Mayweather Sr both used to train me. I've been in the gym with [Mayweather Jr] and there's been times I wanted to reach out to him and have a conversation with him because I see a little boy, even though he's a grown man, and I see a broken person.

Welterweight champion Mayweather Jr has been found guilty on multiple counts of domestic battery. Laila, who had a 24-0 win-loss record in her eight-year career, feels Mayweather needs someone to sober him down.

"I know when you have money and when you have 'power' and you have all these 'yes' people around you, sometimes you don't have that person to pull you aside and really give it to you straight," she said.

"Don't you forget, I am the greatest!" #MuhammadAli pic.twitter.com/HXaTz39RPM

- Muhammad Ali (@MuhammadAli) April 27, 2015

"I dislike the way that he acts and I dislike the way that he treats people and obviously I'm definitely not down with his beating up on women because that's very cowardly.

"But the first thing I think about is the fact that he needs somebody to reach out to him and kind of guide him."

Floyd Mayweather, Jr gestures during the weighing session.

© AFP

Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson also blasted Mayweather Jr in the wake of his comparisons with 'The Greatest'.

"He's very delusional. If he was anywhere near that realm of greater than Ali, he'd be able to take his kids to school by himself," Tyson said.

"Greatness is not guarding yourself from the people, greatness is being accepted by the people," he added. "He's a little scared man. He's a very small, scared man."

Saturday's fight already is likely to become the biggest pay-per-view event in history. Tickets are selling for tens of thousands of dollars, hotel rooms in the city cost exponentially higher than usual, and Mayweather, 38, and Pacquiao will divide hundreds of millions of dollars, regardless of who wins.

Unlike Mayweather, Jr., Pacquiao cloaks himself in the persona of a good-natured man who has chased his demons through the grace of God. The promoter Bob Arum said that he is sure that Pacquiao will give half his proceeds to charity.

(With agency inputs)