Floyd Mayweather Claims the RIZIN Bout is Back On
Floyd Mayweather Jr. says his match with Tenshin Nasukawa for New Year’s Eve is back on. What looked like some confusion about his press conference with RIZIN earlier in November seems to have been cleared up according to Mayweather. RIZIN had announced his match-up with the 20-year-old kickboxer as part of RIZIN 14 on New Year’s Eve but days later Mayweather dismissed the announcement from the Japanese promotion.
However, according to a recent TMZ interview, the bout is back on as an “exhibition” and that it was never supposed to be an official fight. “A small nine-minute exhibition”, Mayweather said about what he is supposed to be doing with Nasukawa and RIZIN. When the news first broke, fans were wondering why he would even consider such a match and wonders if his reasons were financial.
They are, but not because he is hurting for money.
Mayweather compares himself to Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and Oprah [Winfrey] that involve themselves in other ventures as an investment opportunity. He also went on to say that just his appearance for the press conference he was at earned him “seven figures”. Mayweather added that it would be under boxing rules, “no kicking” and he would just be moving around with Nasukawa for nine minutes.
The TMZ interviewer confirmed, “Three, three-minute rounds, light boxing, no kicking”.
Mayweather added just because he is retired from boxing it does not mean he cannot make appearances that he can earn money off of. He also said RIZIN 14 will be a co-promotion with Mayweather Promotions.
When RIZIN made the announcement that was the only fight they announced at the time. Other bouts are to follow but this is looking like RIZIN 14’s main event is an exhibition.
Given the fight being off and on again, does this match up still interest you?
Originally published at www.mmanews.com on November 15, 2018.
