As the dust settled this morning beneath the cool desert air of Las Vegas, with two welterweights having waged war to earn one another’s respect, reconciliation between father and son was probably the last thing on the minds of Floyd Mayweather Jr and the man who set him on the road to boxing greatness, Floyd Sr. Unlike the Hattons from Hyde, Ray and Ricky, who at some point today will be downing pints at the Crown and Anchor on Tropicana Avenue, the Mayweathers are bitterly estranged.

“There are two egos there that just bump heads,” Emanuel Steward, one time trainer to Thomas Hearns, said recently of the Mayweather family feud. “Sometimes the father wants to overshadow the fighter. It’s especially bad when he’s the trainer.”

The way Floyd Jr sees it, all he needs is a little love. “He’s stuck in his ways,” he said about his father in the Hatton/Mayweather 24/7 TV series. “A lot of times I sit back and think at night time and I really want to thank my dad so, so much . . . I can remember how when I was a kid he used to beat me, beat me for no reason, and all I wanted was that one-on-one time. He used to beat me when I was a kid. That’s probably the reason I take it out on my opponents.”

Not all father-son relationships in boxing are quite so fraught. Ray Hatton manages his son’s career and manages also to maintain the tight-knit bond with Ricky and Matthew, his two fighting sons, which has always been central to their lives. “I’m proud of what both have achieved in their careers in the ring but I’m more proud of the kind of men they’ve grown into,” Ray said.

Joe Calzaghe, who was ringside in the early hours of this morning at the MGM Grand, has been trained from the moment he first laced on the gloves by his father, Enzo. “My dad has always been part of my career, the biggest part,” said Calzaghe, who is hoping to lure the American Bernard Hopkins into a lucrative showdown next year. “I’ve only reached the highest level because of him.” The following examples illustrate further this family phenomenon.

Big Daddy: boxers with fathers who packed a punch

ALAN AND ROSS MINTER

‘When he was young and his mates came over, he used to show them tapes of my fights,’ says Alan Minter of his son Ross. ‘Now he’s getting a bit useful, he shows them footage of himself.’ Alan Minter offers this take on his son with pride. Minter Sr’s finest hour came when he beat Vito Antuofermo in Las Vegas in 1980 to win the world middleweight title before losing his first title defence in an ill-tempered affair against Marvin Hagler at Wembley Arena.

Nineteen-year-old Ross still has some way to go to matching this feat – he has won 17 of his 20 professional contests – and in his first fight he boxed under a different name because he did not want people to judge him on who his father was. Alan, who says he will offer advice if he is asked for it, has no concerns that he has the discipline required to make it to the top: ‘Ross never drank or smoked. A lot of fathers don’t like to see their son go into the ring but, although I’m naturally nervous, I know that he’ll have been completely committed to his training and that he’ll be able to look after himself,’ says Alan

BARRY AND SHANE MCGUIGAN

Barry McGuigan, the Clones Cyclone, won the WBA featherweight title in 1985, picking up the BBC’s Sports Personality award the same year. But he had misgivings about his son’s decision to enter the ring. ‘The truth is I never wanted Shane to take up boxing and I would be much happier if he’d chosen to do something else,’ he says.

‘I don’t want to see him get hurt. It’s different when it’s your own flesh and blood. ‘I didn’t want him exposed to the tremendous added pressure that being my son would bring, but he is passionate about it. Once I realised this was something he was going to do with or without me, I decided I had to support him and I couldn’t do that in a half-hearted way.’

Shane admits he was ‘terrified’ at the prospect of telling his father that he wanted to box and ‘it took a long time to pluck up the courage’. But in June, Shane, 18, won the welterweight southern counties amateur final. And dad was there to see him do it. Unfortunately, it was all too much for mum Sandra, who had to leave the arena as soon as her son entered the ring

MUHAMMAD AND LAILA ALI

The self-proclaimed Greatest is the most famous boxer of all. Sadly, by the time his daughter Laila decided to follow in his footsteps, Ali was in the grip of Parkinson’s disease and was unable to exert the sort of influence on his daughter’s career that he may have wanted to. Laila made her debut in 1999 and proved she was a chip off the old block by knocking out April Fowler in the first round. Many boxing fans wanted to see her in the ring with Freeda Foreman, George’s daughter, or Joe Frazier’s daughter, Jackie Frazier-Lyde.

On the evening of June 8, 2001, Ali and Frazier-Lyde finally met, with Ali winning in eight rounds. She holds a host of world light-heavyweight titles and is unbeaten in 24 contests, 21 by knockout. Frazier’s son, Marvis, was also a prospect, albeit briefly. He was a top amateur, winning the 1979 Golden Gloves heavyweight title and compiling a 73-0 record, and he had high hopes when he turned professional. After a decent start to his career, Marvis was knocked out in the first round by Larry Holmes in 1983 and suffered the same fate three years later, at the hands of 19-year-old Mike Tyson in 30 seconds

THOMAS AND RONALD HEARNS

Like McGuigan, Thomas ‘The Hitman’ Hearns hoped for something better for his son. ‘I didn’t want Ronald to fight,’ he said inside Detroit’s legendary Kronk Gym where he still trains. ‘But boys will be boys.’ When Ronald was 12, his father cut him a deal: he would support him joining the family business if he first graduated from college.

Around a decade later, after he picked up a degree in criminal justice at American University in Washington DC, Ronald Hearns started training and had his first pro fight two years ago at the relatively seasoned age of 25. He is undefeated in 17 bouts, with 13 knockouts. Father and son even fought on the same card in 2005 when Thomas made another comeback. He was still fighting in 2006, aged 47, and despite marked deterioration in his skills.

Thomas says that one of the reasons he still fights is to show his son the right way to box. They have sparred twice. ‘It’s not easy to fight him,’ said Ronald, ‘because not only is he a legend but he’s also my dad. It’s not easy to try to beat up your dad’