Boxing champ Floyd Mayweather has been slapped with a $20 million defamation suit by an ex-girlfriend alleging he "painted her as a drug addict" during a recent interview.

According to The Wrap, in a suit filed in Los Angeles Superior court this week, Josie Harris claims Mayweather defamed her during a chat with Katie Couric last month where he sought to defend himself against her 2010 domestic abuse claims.

"Mayweather knowingly and maliciously lied about his beating of Harris, disclaiming any responsibility for the attack and Harris' resulting serious injuries," lawyers for Harris contend in their filing. "Instead, Mayweather pointed his finger at Harris, labeling her as a drug abuser and an aggressor who the world-class boxer had to 'restrain.'"

Back in 2011, the now 38-year-old fighter was sentenced to 90 days in a Las Vegas jail after pleading guilty to a battery domestic violence charge stemming from the five-year-old incident Harris is alluding to.

TMZ reports Harris also insists she and Mayweather had broken up at that point and on the night in question he broke into her home and attacked her in front of two of their three children.

"Did I kick, stomp and beat someone? No, that didn't happen. I look in your face and say, 'No, that didn't happen,'" Mayweather told Couric during the interview, the lawsuit adds. "Did I restrain a woman that was on drugs? Yes, I did. So if they say that's domestic violence, then, you know what? I'm guilty. I'm guilty of restraining someone."

Harris' suit brands Mayweather's version of events as "totally and unequivocally false and defamatory. The true facts are that Harris was not a drug abuser or drug addict. Harris did not need to be 'restrained' because she was on drugs."

She further alleges Mayweather's public contentions have resulted in "severe" damage to both her personal and professional reputation.

"As an aspiring television personality and author, Harris would become unemployable and unpublishable if potential employers or publishers believe that she is, or even might be, a drug abuser or addict, as Mayweather implies in the interview," the suit reads.

Mayweather won upwards of $100 million in his recent welterweight title win over rival Manny Pacquiao.