Floyd Mayweather’s bodyguard shot after gunman targets boxer’s convoy outside Atlanta hotel

A bodyguard for Floyd Mayweather has been shot after a gunman opened fire on the legendary boxer’s convoy as it was travelling through Atlanta on Monday.

Gregor LaRosa, one of the retired boxer’s personal bodyguards, was shot in the leg in the early hours on Monday morning near an intersection in Atlanta shortly after Mayweather’s entourage left a night club to head towards the InterContinental Hotel in the Buckhead region of the city.

LaRosa was taken the hospital to be treated for the gunshot wound, and released around three hours after arriving. According to the Atlanta Police Department, Mayweather was not in the car that was targeted and was not injured in the shooting on the convoy, which contained three SUVs [sport utility vehicles].

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"We believe that Mr Mayweather may have been in one of the other vehicles in the [convoy] and was not injured," an APD statement said.

A vehicle pulled up to the SUVs in an intersection and a gunman inside opened fire, striking LaRosa in the lower leg. The driver of the vehicle LaRosa was in drove immediately to a hospital, Atlanta Police Department spokesman Donald Hannah told a news conference.

Police believe the shooter was familiar with the entourage or the group of vehicles. Police are not sure if anything happened earlier in the evening that led to the shooting.

"At this time, it appears that this was not a random shooting and the shooter was targeting the victim's vehicle," Hannah added.

Mayweather was in Atlanta to promote a boxing event in Las Vegas on Saturday night, with the 41-year-old posting videos from inside a nightclub on social media.

The shooting came just one day after Mayweather uploaded a Twitter post that read “I don't know nothing about tomorrow but I'm living for today”, which has lead to theories that the undefeated boxer may have been aware that someone was trying to target him and his entourage .

Additional reporting by Reuters