ACtually, his original hate was from a female Meowth in the city. Quickly infatuated, he tried many ways to impress it. Even learning to speak and joining Team Rocket.
Several years later (or months, I can't remember), he returns and finds out that the Meowth has been abandoned by her trainer and is living with a bunch of alley cats, lead by a Persian. When trying to help her, the Persian bats him away, and Meowth challenges him to a duel upon the rooftop. Eventually, the dual comes to a single strike from both sides. Meowth wins the dual but the female Meowth rushes to the Persians side, stating that she's in love with the Persian. Meowth gets the "broken glass image" treatment.
There's some fuzzy details, but I think that's about it.