Retired boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. is talking once again about appearing under the RIZIN banner, though he has made it clear it would be an exhibition boxing match only.
Well, it looks like the Floyd Mayweather to RIZIN talk isn’t dead just yet. Though, as we speculated over a week ago, if it happens, it will be purely a boxing exhibition. TMZ caught up with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Beverly Hills this week, and it sounds like the fight is still in the works. Exhibition fight, that is. No kicking — as Mayweather would repeat more than once.
It was just weeks ago that RIZIN announced Mayweather would face kickboxing sensation Tenshin Nasukawa at RIZIN 14 on New Year’s Eve. Only for, just days later, Mayweather to back out of the fight, saying he was misled about the scale. An odd turn of events since Mayweather admitted during a press conference he attended that the fight was still being negotiated.
Sounds like it’s being negotiated still. Speaking to TMZ, Mayweather denied the fight was ever supposed to be an official fight. But “I didn’t want to throw a lot of my people under the bus, so I basically told them, ‘it’s not going to work out.'” At least, he told them after leaving Japan.
Still, if the exhibition match does take place on New Year’s Eve, “it’s going to be the highest paid exhibition ever, I think. But just for promoting this event so far,” ‘Money claimed, “I’ve made seven figures. Just talking about it, just with me talking about the event, I’ve already made crazy money.”
Mayweather denied that he’s interested in the fight because of financial issues, noting that Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Oprah Winfrey continue to pursue business interests despite already being rich. “I’m far from hurting for money. I’ve got a ton of money,” Mayweather bragged.
Saying any bout with Nasukawa is only “going to be a little boxing exhibition,” Mayweather made one thing clear: “No kicking. I’m moving around with the guy for nine minutes. And of course it’s going to be the highest paid exhibition ever.”
Not just under the RIZIN FF banner (and Mayweather wasn’t sure how it’s pronounced), but “Mayweather Promotions/RIZIN,” he said. And again, when asked by TMZ, he reiterated “no kicking.”
We don’t blame him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAwoEcQ4SCs
