Boxing

Adrien Broner is looking to score a huge payday by challenging Floyd Mayweather Jr. to an exhibition bout.

Appearing on CIGARTALK (h/t TMZ Sports), Broner said the match would earn both fighters $100 million and laid out the reasons why.

"We can do an exhibition, 10 rounds, and the whole world is gonna watch it and we gonna get in there and go to work," he explained. "Hug and go in the back and get a bag but at the end of the day, I don't know what's his feelings."

After defeating Conor McGregor to bring his professional record to 50-0, Mayweather retired from organized boxing. He has continued to fight in exhibitions, most recently against Logan Paul in June 2021.

While no official winner was declared, Mayweather dominated the bout with a 43-28 advantage over Paul in total punches landed and a 36-21 edge in power punches.

Next up for Mayweather is an exhibition against MMA fighter Mikuru Asakura in Japan in September. Full details of the fight, including length of the bout and official rules, have not yet been made public.

An exhibition vs. Broner would go against type for Mayweather since his professional retirement. Money has been going up against opponents with minimal boxing experience (Paul) or who made their name in other sports (Asakura, mixed martial arts; Tenshin Nasukawa, kickboxing).

Broner has 40 professional boxing fights on his resume and has won titles in four different weight classes. He is 34-4-1 with one no-contest in his career but has gone just 1-2-1 in his past four bouts.

The 33-year-old Broner is scheduled to challenge Omar Figueroa Jr. on Aug. 20 at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

Logan Paul has embarked on a career in WWE, but the YouTube star has designs on returning to boxing as well.

Appearing Wednesday on The Pat McAfee Show with fellow WWE personality Pat McAfee, Paul revealed he is working toward taking part in a boxing match in December:

Paul declined to say who his opponent will be but said he has some people in mind and wants it to be a surprise.

While Paul's younger brother, Jake Paul, is 5-0 as a professional boxer, Logan hasn't had an official pro fight yet.

The 27-year-old Paul boxed fellow YouTuber KSI twice in amateur matches, fighting to a draw once and losing the other time. Most notably, Paul clashed with legendary 50-0 boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. in an exhibition last year.

The bout went the distance and no winner was announced, but it seemed obvious that Mayweather was holding back and could have stopped Paul at any time if he chose to.

Although Paul's success in boxing is limited, he has taken to the world of professional wrestling like a fish to water.

Paul made his in-ring debut for WWE at WrestleMania 38 in April, teaming with The Miz against Rey and Dominik Mysterio. Paul showed off impressive athleticism and performed well beyond expectations on the Grandest Stage of Them All.

Last weekend, Paul had his first singles match in WWE, facing and defeating The Miz at SummerSlam.

The social media sensation was even better in his second outing, nailing Miz with a picture-perfect frog splash through the announce table, much to the amazement of those watching live in Nashville, Tennessee, and across the world.

Prior to that match, it was announced that Paul had officially signed a WWE contract. On Monday's episode of Raw, he clarified that it was a multiyear, multi-event deal.

Paul figures to be a part-time wrestler for WWE who is used primarily for big events, which should leave him time for other ventures, including boxing.

Even though Paul hasn't shown the same aptitude for boxing as he has wrestling, his potential December fight will undoubtedly generate a ton of interest thanks to his celebrity status.

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Former world heavyweight boxing champion Hasim Rahman Sr. offered to fight both Jake and Logan Paul on the same night after his son's scheduled bout with Jake Paul was called off.

Hasim Rahman Jr. and Jake Paul had been scheduled to clash on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City, but Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions announced the cancellation of the fight last weekend due to Rahman Jr. allegedly planning to fight at 215 lbs. despite being contractually obligated to fight at 200 lbs.

Speaking to TMZ Sports, Rahman Sr. offered to take on both Paul brothers in consecutive fights on the same night in order to make up for it:

"How about this? If somebody would sanction this, I will fight Jake and Logan back to back. We can go eight rounds apiece. Neither one of them will make eight rounds, but we can sanction for eight rounds and I promise you, if I don't knock Jake and Logan out, they win."

Rahman Sr. would be a significant step up in competition for Jake Paul, given his status as a former world champion who once defeated Lennox Lewis.

Now 49, Rahman competed in 62 professional fights during a career that spanned from 1994 through 2014, posting a 50-9-2 record with one no contest and 41 wins by way of knockout.

The 2001 win over Lewis was undoubtedly Rahman's career highlight, but he also defeated some other notable names, including Trevor Berbick and Corrie Sanders, plus he fought James Toney and David Tua to draws.

Rahman Sr. would have a huge advantage over the Paul brothers in terms of in-ring success and experience, but he is also pushing 50 and hasn't had a professional fight in over eight years.

Jake Paul, 25, is 5-0 as a pro boxer, winning four of those fights by knockout. He has been impressive, but he has yet to face a legitimate boxer.

Thus far, his wins have come over YouTuber AnEsonGib, former NBA guard Nate Robinson and former UFC fighters Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley.

Had the Rahman Jr. fight gone off, it likely would have been Paul's toughest test to date since Rahman Jr. owns a 12-1 record in 13 professional boxing matches.

Meanwhile, the 27-year-old Logan Paul has only competed in amateur and exhibition fights. He fought British YouTuber KSI to a draw and then lost to him before going the distance in an exhibition against legendary boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Logan is more focused on other ventures, including recently signing a contract with WWE and competing in a well-received match against The Miz at SummerSlam last weekend.

While the Paul brothers aren't likely to accept Rahman Sr.'s offer, there is now a great deal of interest in Jake Paul's next move now that his past two scheduled fights against Tommy Fury and Rahman Jr. have been canceled.

There is clearly no love lost between Hasim Rahman Jr. and Jake Paul.

Rahman spoke to the media following Paul announcing their fight scheduled for next weekend would not take place, saying he lost respect for the YouTuber-turned-boxer.

"I had a tremendous amount of respect for what he was doing and what he's done—until I got on the inside," Rahman said. "Now I see how many strings can be pulled and all the different type of stuff he tries to do to give himself an advantage and him not really giving a fair shake."

Rahman also accused Paul of trying to "blackball" him from the sport, telling other boxers to not book fights against him.

Paul's promotional team announced their Aug. 6 bout would not take place due to a disagreement over Rahman making weight. The fight was originally contracted at 200 pounds and then moved to 205 pounds when Rahman consistently weighed over the limit in the weeks leading up to the fight.

Rahman said he could make the 205-pound limit by Friday's weigh-in provided he would be able to fight at 215 pounds when the bell rings. Paul typically fights as a cruiserweight, and Rahman is a natural heavyweight.

Rahman said he would knock Paul out if the two were to reach an agreement on a future fight.

"Stop being scared," Rahman said to Paul. "Be a man. Put the gloves on. Stop being scared. It's that simple. You get in a fight with a real fighter, man. Get in there, get your ass whooped and head on back to YouTube."

The official reason given for Jake Paul canceling his pay-per-view bout against Hasim Rahman Jr. was a disagreement over the bout's weight limit.

Dana White isn't buying it.

The UFC president said he believes poor ticket sales is the real reason behind the cancellation.

“I think they sold under $1 million in tickets and it costs $500,000 to turn the f--king lights on at MSG,” White told reporters. “That’s what I think. Not to mention hotel rooms in New York and transportation is very expensive.”

Paul announced the fight's cancellation Saturday, saying Rahman had not made any progress in getting his weight down to the contracted 200 pounds. The New York State Athletic Commission bumped up the weight limit to 205 pounds in response to Rahman's inability to reach the original contracted weight.

However, according to the statement released by Paul's promotional team, Rahman revealed he was planning to come into the weigh-in at 215 pounds and would not agree to the fight unless the YouTuber-turned-boxer agreed to that limit.

Paul burst onto the boxing scene with celebrity-fueled matchups against former NBA guard Nate Robinson and MMA stars Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley. The spectacle surrounding Paul fights—most often brought on by the hype of fans wanting to see the natural heel lose—led to significant pay-per-view buys and him becoming one of the biggest faces in boxing.

However, it appears much of the novelty has worn off. Paul's last fight, a rematch against Woodley, drew less than 65,000 pay-per-view buys, per DAZN's Steven Muehlhausen. Paul has disputed those numbers, calling them "bulls--t."

The bout against Rahman, who was a last-minute replacement for Tommy Fury, seemed to have even less hype than the Woodley rematch.

Rahman is not a nationally known name, and Paul's promotions team seemed to be banking on the social media star's name alone selling the fight. That was always unlikely to happen—especially given Paul's move to Showtime has taken away much of the spectacle that used to surround the bouts when they were broadcast on Triller.

It's likely the truth lies somewhere in the middle, with Rahman's weight issues giving Paul and Co. a good excuse to cancel a fight that was likely to do disappointing numbers.

Next week's fight between Jake Paul and Hasim Rahman Jr. has been postponed because of an issue with Rahman's weight, Paul's Most Valuable Promotions told ESPN's Marc Raimondi.

Rahman's promoter, Greg Cohen, said the weight at which the fight was going to occur was changed to 204 pounds because Rahman was having trouble getting down to 200 pounds, which the two were supposed to fight at, per insider Dan Rafael.

Rafael reported that Paul then offered to fight at 205 pounds, but Rahman still weighs 214 pounds and is struggling to lose weight. Paul doesn't appear to be too happy about the cancellation:

"First Tommy [Fury] Fumbled and now Hasim Rahman Crumbled," Paul wrote on Twitter. "These boxers are the most difficult people to work with and continually lack professionalism and confidence to fight me.

"I apologize to all of the of the other fighters on the card, our partners, our team and the fans."

Paul's Twitter bio also reads: "Hasim Rahman Jr and Tommy Fury were both too afraid to fight me and I'm not the 'real boxer'... lololol."

The bout was going to be Paul's first against an actual pro boxer and was set to take place in New York City's Madison Square Garden.

Rahman is 12-1 in his career with six knockouts and wins against Raymond Ochieng, Mario Rodriguez Juarez and Nathan Bedwell, among others. His only loss came against James McKenzie Morrison via knockout in April.

Paul, meanwhile, is 5-0 in the early stages of his boxing career, with wins over YouTuber AnEsonGib, former basketball player Nate Robinson, mixed martial artist Ben Askren and former UFC Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley.

Had next week's bout between Paul and Rahman occurred, Paul would have had a shot at earning a WBC ranking, per organization president Mauricio Sulaiman. However, it's unclear where he would've ranked.

Paul was scheduled to fight Fury twice in the past, but both bouts were canceled. They were originally scheduled to fight in December, but Fury had to pull out after suffering a broken rib and chest infection.

The fight was rescheduled to Aug. 6 at Madison Square Garden, but Fury, who is from England, was denied entry into the United States for a press event earlier this summer and failed to get the issues with his visa sorted out, which resulted in the bout being canceled.

Rahman was supposed to be the replacement for Fury at MSG next weekend.

It's unclear who Paul will fight next, though he has expressed interest in fighting UFC stars Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz in the past. However, UFC President Dana White said in December that a bout between Paul and either of the two was never going to happen.

"No [that's not happening]," White said on The Fight with Teddy Atlas (h/t MMA Fighting's Mike Heck). "You notice he wants to f--king fight everybody that's not in his weight class, guys that are older and all of this other bulls--t. Go find a boxer. Go hump somebody else's leg, you goofball."

So, we'll just have to wait and see what's in store for Paul in the coming weeks and months.

Bobby Lashley says he was approached by a bare-knuckle boxing promotion about possibly fighting legendary boxer Mike Tyson.

According to Fightful Select (h/t Joshua Jones of ThirstyForNews.com), Lashley said it was a "feeling-out process," and the official he spoke to said Madison Square Garden in New York City was a potential venue for the fight.

While nothing is imminent, Lashley said he would love to fight Tyson since he would consider it an honor.

Lashley is best known for his success as a professional wrestler, including being a two-time WWE champion, but the reigning United States champion has plenty of experience in legitimate combat sports as well.

The 46-year-old was a top-flight amateur wrestler in high school and college, and he later tried his hand at mixed martial arts.

Lashley made his professional MMA debut in 2008 following the conclusion of his first WWE tenure and fought in various promotions before signing with Bellator in 2014.

While he has not competed in an MMA fight since 2016, Lashley owns a sparkling 15-2 record with six knockouts and six submissions.

Tyson is a former heavyweight boxing champion and is one of the greatest heavyweight fighters of all time.

He won his first 37 pro fights before a shocking loss to Buster Douglas in 1990. He retired with a career record of 50-6, including 44 wins by knockout.

Tyson has not fought professionally since 2005, but the 56-year-old competed in an exhibition match against fellow boxing legend Roy Jones Jr. in 2020.

They fought to a draw, and many observers were impressed by Tyson's performance given his age and how long he had been out of the ring.

A fight between Tyson and Lashley has the potential to be a huge crossover event given Lashley's experience in MMA and the fact that Tyson is a WWE Hall of Famer thanks to his appearances leading up to and during WrestleMania 14 in 1998.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

Boxer Mike Tyson turned heads when he used a cane while limping from a car to a hotel in New York City on Tuesday, but he apparently isn't dealing with a new injury.

"He's dealing with a sciatica flare-up," a source told TMZ Sports. "Nothing serious. Just an occupational hazard for an athlete like Mike."

TMZ called it an "old back issue" for Iron Mike.

Tyson recently made headlines for punching a fellow passenger on an airplane in April.

"I was wrong, that should've never happened," Tyson told Jimmy Kimmel. "That's me back in my primitive child stages. I shouldn't of done that, but I was just irritated, tired, high and pissed off. S--t happens!"

He ultimately did not face any charges with the San Mateo County District Attorney saying "the conduct of the victim leading up to the incident, the interaction between Mr. Tyson and the victim, as well as the requests of both the victim and Mr. Tyson" led to the decision.

Tyson was known for his knockout power during a boxing career that saw him go 50-6 with 44 knockouts.

His last professional bout came in 2005, although he told Kimmel a fight against Jake Paul "could be very interesting. I never really took it serious, but yeah, it could be really interesting. Everything is possible, yeah. But it gotta happen this year. It gotta happen this year."

While Tyson is a legend and would surely be a threat to Paul or almost anyone else he fought against, he is also 56 years old.

The wear and tear from a long career seemed to be a factor recently when he was using a cane, although he at least wasn't dealing with a new injury.

UFC president Dana White isn't buying talk of a potential boxing rematch between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor.

Emma Parry of UK publication The Sun reported Tuesday that Mayweather and McGregor were "very close" to reaching an agreement to fight for a second time.

Per Parry, the bout would be contested at 155 lbs. and "personal terms" have been agreed upon, but there are still some sticking points, including the length of the fight.

When asked about the report by TMZ Sports on Tuesday, White shot it down, calling it "total bulls--t."

Mayweather and McGregor met in August 2017 for arguably the biggest crossover fight in combat sports history. McGregor held his own, but Mayweather ultimately won by 10th-round technical knockout, improving his career record to 50-0.

After the fight, Mayweather announced his retirement, and while he has competed in some exhibition bouts since then, he has remained true to his word by not competing in another professional fight.

White's stake in a Mayweather vs. McGregor fight relates to McGregor, who is under a UFC contract and is one of the promotion's biggest stars.

The former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion has not competed inside the Octagon since UFC 264 last July, which saw him lose to Dustin Poirier by doctor stoppage after suffering a broken leg.

In March, McGregor said he was aiming for a late-summer return to the UFC and named welterweight champion Kamaru Usman as his preferred opponent.

McGregor has lost three of his past four fights and four of his past seven after previously winning 15 in a row, calling into question whether he is still a top fighter.

Regardless, McGregor remains a top draw, and while a rematch with Mayweather would undoubtedly generate huge money, White would clearly prefer for McGregor's return to occur under the UFC umbrella.

The highly anticipated rematch between Devin Haney and George Kambosos for the undisputed lightweight championship reportedly has a date.

According to ESPN's Mike Coppinger, the fight is "being planned" for Oct. 16 in Kambosos' native Australia and will be broadcast in primetime on ESPN on Oct. 15.

Haney (28-0, 15 KO) defeated Kambosos via unanimous decision in June to claim all four belts at 135 pounds. The bout agreement Haney had signed in March included a return fight in Australia for later in the year, and Kambosos exercised his rematch clause immediately after his loss.

Kambosos (20-1, 10 KO) had upset Teofimo Lopez by split decision in November to claim the undisputed lightweight crown after an exciting fight that saw both boxers hit the canvas before the final bell. But the 23-year-old Haney outclassed him during their match, using his jab to keep the fight on the outside and cruise to a lopsided victory.

Coppinger noted that a site for the rematch has not yet been finalized, but it could take place at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena, the home of the Australian Open.

The lightweight division is arguably the most exciting weight class in boxing right now thanks to a long list of intriguing matchups and promising contenders.

Lopez is set to make his return on Aug. 13 against Pedro Campa. Ryan Garcia is coming off a knockout victory at 140 pounds this past Saturday and called for a superfight against Gervonta "Tank" Davis. Plus, former three-division champion Vasiliy Lomachenko is waiting in the wings after his decision victory over Richard Commey in December.