In a turn of events which would ordinarily provoke the general population to question what timeline they were living in – but perfectly on-brand with 2020/2021 – the undefeated professional boxer and former 15-time world champion Floyd Mayweather has agreed to face off against notorious YouTuber Logan Paul in a “super exhibition” bout come June 6th at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.
The fight was originally scheduled for February this year before COVID-19 related reasons offered Paul a stay of execution. A resolution has obviously been found since then as Mayweather takes to Instagram, announcing the new date, venue, broadcast/streaming partners, as well as ticket sales going live next week.
The last time the 43-year-old stepped into the ring was during New Year’s Eve in December 2018 against Japanese kickboxing prodigy, Tenshin Nasukawa, in an exhibition bout. Mayweather knocked young Nasukawa down three times in just 139 seconds before Nasukawa’s corner threw the towel in. Mayweather cashed in an easy-breezy US$9 million.
Previous to that in 2017, Mayweather famously threw hands with the UFC’s Conor McGregor in one of history’s richest boxing events. For comfortably securing a technical knockout against the prolific Irishman with no substantial risk during Round 10, Mayweather took home a hefty reported sum of US$275 million.
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So what of this upcoming bout? Easy money? Publicity stunt? Taking the piss? All over the above? Who the hell knows. But one thing is painfully clear: when you pit an athlete of Money Mayweather’s calibre with a 50-0 record earned from besting some of the sport’s most dangerous names against an over-validated dudebro who failed to defeat yet another internet personality twice (draw as an amateur; loss by split decision as a professional) – it’s essentially athletic commission sanctioned manslaughter with a pay-per-view revenue stream… and one we’ll eagerly await like the bloodthirsty cockroaches we are.
The undercard has yet to be announced. As some of you may know, Logan Paul’s younger brother Jake Paul triumphed over retired NBA player Nate Robinson in the Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jr exhibition match, before demolishing former UFC fighter Ben Askren. Having publicly issued a challenge to Conor McGregor, Dillon Danis, and more recently, getting on Daniel Cormier’s bad side at UFC 261, while these options would usually be dismissed, given the current circumstances… who knows? It might actually be a material possibility.
Floyd Mayweather v Logan Paul will be viewable on Showtime pay-per-view and Fanmio on June 6th, 2021.
