Floyd Mayweather Jr on Sunday night predictably dominated YouTube star Logan Paul in an eight-round exhibition fight in Miami before saying it could have been his final performance.
Mayweather, who weighed in at 70.3kg with his opponent tipping the scales at 85.96kg, produced a slick performance much to the delight of the crowd at Hard Rock Stadium in Florida.
Intermittent rain throughout the evening failed to put a damper on the 44-year-old Mayweather’s first performance since beating Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in December 2018.
Photo: AFP
With the likes of former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield watching on from ringside, the 26-year-old Paul lasted eight rounds against Mayweather, who barely broke a sweat.
This was declared an exhibition, rather than a licensed bout, which meant there were no judges and the only way to triumph was to stop or knockout the opponent within the eight three-minute rounds.
Mayweather ended his boxing career in 2017 with a record of 50-0 after beating UFC star Conor McGregor in Las Vegas.
Paul, who was taking part in his third fight after two encounters against fellow YouTuber KSI, was outclassed by Mayweather, who delivered a number of punishing blows to stop his American opponent from making any headway.
“I wanted to give people a show, and he was fighting to survive,” he said. “This was like a training session, really. Just going the distance was a win for him.”
Mayweather afterward said that this could be his final appearance.
“Will I make a comeback? Absolutely not. I have retired from the sport of boxing. I probably won’t do an exhibition again either,” he said.
“I had fun, he did too. It was cool. When the money comes, we will see who the winner is,” he added.
It was another profitable evening for the boxer known as “Money,” who had said he expects to pocket more than US$50 million from the exhibition.
Paul would also make a nice payday and no doubt have delighted his more than 20 million YouTube followers in the process.
Paul, who tried to wear down Mayweather with his extra weight, did well to last eight rounds and enjoyed some moderate success, but his opponent’s experience and boxing know-how was too much.
“I am going into the Hall of Fame, I have nothing to prove,” Mayweather said.
“I hope the fans were pleased. I have been in this sport for so long, I was letting people see I can come out at the age of 44 and bring almost 30,000 to the stadium, and bring good pay-per-view numbers,” he said.
“I am not going to perform like I was 19, it’s all about growth and aging. I can’t fight like when I fought people like [Arturo] Gatti and people like that. It’s sad Manny Pacquiao is coming out to fight again,” he added.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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