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Floyd Mayweather tarnishes reputation with controversial exhibition

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  • 5 min read

While everyone is hoping that we’ll get to see a super fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, there’s only one fight that’s going to get the whole world talking early in 2021 – that’s Floyd Mayweather.

The boxing world was thrown into mass confusion last week when it was announced that Floyd Mayweather would be fighting a YouTuber.

The fight was supposed to be just a ‘special exhibition.’ But there are many who insist that the bout could tarnish the reputation of the five-weight boxing world champion. 

After all, Mayweather managed to finish his boxing career unbeaten after 50 bouts. There are big questions why he would want to waste his time against a vlogger.

Despite the wave of criticism, it looks like the fight is going ahead in February 2021. So will this bout earn Mayweather more fans or cause his reputation to be destroyed?

The main reaction has been that this fight isn’t going to be a fight at all. After all, his opponent is a social media personality who has a boxing record of one fight and one loss. On the other hand, Mayweather has 15 world titles.

Unsurprisingly, many of the more outspoken members of the boxing community were the first to express their shock.

Ryan Garcia is well-known for his lightweight boxing talents and motor-mouthed opinions that have earned him millions of followers on Instagram. But for once, Garcia was left nearly speechless. He could only respond with the words ‘Wow, no words but wow.’

In addition to this many boxers took to their social media channels to declare their interest in joining the bill.

Key among these was the world lightweight champion Gervonta Davis who announced that he was already heading to Las Vegas to get on the fight card. This is fairly unsurprising as the bout is expecting to shatter previous viewing records between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

Many of those in other fighting sports took the news of the impending bout as a chance to have a sly dig at boxing. In particular, the UFC boss Dana White. He summarised the overall ‘state of boxing right now’ in the clash between Mayweather and an internet vlogger. While the WWE was quick to point out this could be ‘the strangest fight’ that the boxer has ever been in.

Unsurprisingly the news of the Floyd Mayweather bout spread beyond the boxing world. As such, many of those seemingly unconnected with boxing have been quick to show their interest. Nowhere was this better seen than when Snoop Dogg took to Instagram to declare his intention to add some more of his ‘unique’ commentary to the big fight. 

Above all, the general reaction to the bout has been one of incredulity. Many boxing fans have taken to social media to call the fight a disgrace and an embarrassment. Some even going to say that it was the day that boxing died.

However, some boxing aficionados had a small amount of respect for Floyd Mayweather, who they understood would be laughing all of the ways to the bank. 

The bout has been one of the boxing world’s worst-kept secrets. The past few months have seen his opponent attempting to rile up Mayweather with some social media taunting. It’s not a massive surprise to find that the bout is finally going to take place in 2021.

What’s surprising is the sheer level of outrage among the boxing community at Mayweather’s decision to fight. The sight of seeing Mayweather reduced to such ‘exhibition fights’ has caused plenty of boxing fans to express their displeasure.

But plenty of these boxing fans tuned in to see the 43-year old beat the Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa two years ago. A first-round KO.

FLOYD MAYWEATHER at 44

After all, there aren’t too many places where a boxer can go once they enter their fifth decade. The sight of Mike Tyson entering the ring again at the age of 54 was one of this year’s weirdest spectacles, and it remains to be seen whether Mayweather will want to follow the same career path.

But with his YouTube adversary having over 22 million subscribers, the match gives Mayweather a simple way to boost his profile. To be known among a new generation. Plus earn a massive amount of cash in the process.

Mayweather’s previous exhibition bout against Nasukawa earned him over $9 million. It’s widely expected that his clash against the social media star will get him way more money. Maybe a PPV record too.

Much of this will come from the FanMio pay-per-view channel. With the price of watching the bout skyrocketing up to nearly $70, it seems that there’s plenty to be made in exhibition bouts like this. Get it early and it can cost $25.

Such news is something that Mayweather is definitely aware of. We know that.

After all, the boxing legend stated that he won’t be fighting against ‘any boxer anymore’ despite coming out of retirement in 2020.

All of which means that this ‘special exhibition’ could be just the first of many weird fights involving Floyd Mayweather.