Floyd Mayweather

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has another exhibition upcoming.

The former boxer will face MMA fighter Mikuru Asakura in Japan this September, per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN), his second exhibition in the country since his retirement from professional boxing five years ago.

Mayweather faced Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in the country back in 2018, an event that he showed up two hours late to before promptly knocking Nasukawa to the mat three times in a two-minute span, leaving him in tears after his corner called the fight.

Floyd Mayweather makes $9 million in 139 seconds after easily defeating Tenshin Nasukawa with three knockdowns pic.twitter.com/wfyxtugfpU

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 31, 2018

"It was all about entertainment. We had fun," Mayweather said after the bout, ever the salesman. "Tokyo, Japan, you guys have been amazing. Thank you."

It probably helped the sales pitch that Mayweather reportedly made $9 million from the exhibition.

While Mayweather enjoyed himself, many of the people who tuned in for that fight saw through the spectacle:

https://twitter.com/Calfreezy/status/1079745136115044353

Mayweather beats a 20-year-old kick boxer inside a round. This now sets up a fight with Brian from our accounts department.

— Paddy Power (@paddypower) December 31, 2018

That.. looked like a 50-0 boxer against a 20 year old kickboxer in a boxing match. That's exactly what it looked like.

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) December 31, 2018

Mayweather's exhibition against Mikuru likely won't be much different. While Mayweather was a perfect 50-0 in his boxing career, Mikuru is 16-3-1 in his MMA career and currently fights in the Rizin promotion.

Holding the fight under boxing rules gives Mayweather an obvious advantage, as it did when he faced Conor McGregor and Tenshin.

One difference is that Mikuru will be at much less of a size and weight disadvantage, as he fights around 145-150 pounds, whereas Tenshin is closer to 125 pounds. By the end of his career, Mayweather was fighting in the welterweight division (140-147 pounds).

Longtime boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. said Monday he's been in communication with the NBA about joining an ownership group to purchase a team.

The former five-division world champion told Sam Gordon of the Las Vegas Review-Journal he's avoided public discussion about the idea, which he's worked on throughout the year.

"I've been talking to certain individuals for the last six months," Mayweather said. "That's something I've been working on behind the scenes, but I've never came out and publicly talked about that with the media. Me and my team have been working behind the scenes with the NBA. I can't say exactly where, but I'm working on getting a team."

Mayweather is one of the world's richest athletes, but he doesn't have the wealth to become a solo NBA team owner based on current valuations.

Forbes projected the league's "cheapest" franchise, the Memphis Grizzlies, was worth $1.5 billion for the 2021-22 season.

Mayweather claimed in August his net worth surpassed $1.2 billion, but Celebrity Net Worth estimates his holdings at a more modest $450 million.

Regardless, the 45-year-old Michigan native would need fellow investors to become a partner in an NBA ownership group.

"I've been working on that for a good while now," Mayweather told Gordon. "I've been working behind the scenes. I didn't want to bring it out until it was engraved in stone."

While he could join a current team, his comment about not being able to discuss "exactly where" the squad plays suggests he could be talking about an expansion franchise.

It adds more smoke to the fire that started last week when LeBron James said on The Shop he's aiming to bring an NBA organization to Las Vegas:

"I want a team in Vegas." 👀 @KingJames hints at his next big move on an all new episode of #TheShop TOMORROW at 9 am PT on our YouTube! 📺 pic.twitter.com/HIZKsBYPGF

— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) June 9, 2022

Forbes recently reported James became the first active NBA player to reach billionaire status.

James and Mayweather, two of the biggest sports stars of the generation, could combine to form the foundation of a Vegas ownership group, though there would likely be numerous others involved in the process.

That said, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver dismissed talk of imminent expansion during a press conference before the start of the 2022 NBA Finals.

"That talk is not true," Silver said in early June. "At least maybe there are people talking who are not at the league office about us potentially expanding after the 2024 season. We are not discussing that at this time. As I said before, at some point, this league invariably will expand, but it's not at this moment that we are discussing it."

Although he pushed aside the short-term speculation, it wouldn't be the least bit surprising if there are expansion teams in at least two cities—Las Vegas and Seattle are the popular candidates—before the end of the decade.

YouTuber Jake Paul, a master of keeping his name in the headlines despite never beating an actual boxer in a fight, has stirred the pot yet again. 

This time, he basically called out Floyd Mayweather and Anderson Silva:

I would beat Floyd and Anderson in the same night 🫠

— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) May 21, 2022

Mayweather may be 45 years old, but he also went 50-0 in his professional boxing career. The odds that Paul—whose resume includes wins over former UFC fighters Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley (twice) but zero bouts against professional boxers—would win are slim to none. 

As for the 47-year-old Silva, he's no slouch in a boxing ring either. While he most famously dominated the UFC—at one point winning 16 straight fights in the promotion as both a middleweight and light heavyweight—he is also 3-1 as a boxer and recently outboxed Bruno Machado in an exhibition. 

Paul likely would have a better chance against Silva but even then would be a significant underdog. 

Boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. returned to the ring Saturday for an exhibition match against the undefeated Don Moore at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

The fight went the distance and wasn't judged to determine a winner. But according to MMA Fighting, Mayweather had an impressive showing in his first match since he fought former YouTube star Logan Paul in another exhibition last June.

Saturday's match featured eight two-minute rounds. In the second round, Mayweather turned up his activity with more movement and footwork and finished with a body shot and a couple of jabs.

Once Mayweather found his rhythm, Moore had a hard time finding him. The 45-year-old was elusive while pumping his jab. Moore managed to land a few shots, but they did nothing to faze Mayweather.

After it was clear that Moore wouldn't present any danger, Mayweather turned up the in-fight antics. He started taunting and trash-talking Moore during the sixth round. He walked around the ring with a round card and then danced with a ring girl prior to the seventh.

Despite the mental warfare, Mayweather remained focused. He wobbled Moore in the seventh with a right hand behind the ear before hurting him again right as the round ended. Mayweather dropped Moore with a body shot in the final round, but Moore answered the 10-count and survived to the bell despite Mayweather's efforts to finish the fight.

This was Mayweather's third exhibition since he retired from professional boxing in 2017 following a knockout victory over UFC superstar Conor McGregor, which pushed his record to 50-0. After the match, Mayweather teased another fight in 2022.

"It's a secret," he said. "I don't want to let the cat out the bag right now, but we have an opponent."

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has a new date for his exhibition match against Don Moore after it was postponed following the death of United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The legendary boxer announced on Instagram that the match will take place Saturday on a helipad in Dubai. Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva will also be on the card.

"The Showcase in the Skies of Dubai" was originally scheduled for last Saturday, but Sheikh Khalifa's death led to a three-day suspension of work in the nation. It was initially believed that the boxing event would be canceled, but the Global Titans Fight Series released a statement saying it intended to find a new date for the spectacle.

However, it is still a surprise that someone of Mayweather's stature would announce a fight date just four days before the bout, especially considering that the event's promotion took a hit with the postponement.

The 45-year-old Mayweather retired from professional boxing in 2017 with a record of 50-0. His last pro bout against Conor McGregor earned him a nine-figure payday, solidifying Mayweather as one of the most lucrative pay-per-view draws of all time.

Since his retirement, Mayweather faced kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in an exhibition in Japan in 2018 and followed that up with an exhibition against YouTube star Logan Paul last June. He knocked out Nasukawa, but his fight against Paul went the distance and no winner was declared.

In Moore, he's facing fellow undefeated boxer at 18-0-1 with 12 KOs. It is unclear if their match will be judged to determine a winner.

Silva will meet Bruno Machado on the undercard. The legendary MMA fighter is coming off a first-round knockout of Tito Ortiz in September. Last June, the 47-year-old surprised many when he earned a split-decision win over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

Logan Paul says Floyd Mayweather has yet to pay him his full purse from last year's exhibition fight.

"No, he has not paid me in full. That is a fact. Short a few mil. ... We're taking this one to court," Paul told TMZ Sports.

Paul's bout against Mayweather drew more than one million pay-per-view buys, pulling in more than $50 million in revenue.

It's unclear what percentage of the share Paul was due in the fight agreement, but apparently Mayweather did not hold up his end of the deal.

The Paul brothers have become two of the biggest names in boxing since transitioning into the fighting game after their initial rise to fame on YouTube.

Mayweather remains among the biggest draws in boxing even years after his retirement. He was set to return to the ring for an exhibition in Dubai this year, but that was called off following the death of UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

An exhibition boxing card featuring Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Anderson Silva that was scheduled to take place Saturday in the United Arab Emirates was postponed.

TMZ Sports reported Friday the event, officially dubbed Global Titans Fight Series: The Showcase in the Skies of Dubai, was called off following the death of UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan that led the country to declare a three-day mourning period.

Mayweather was set to face former sparring partner Don Moore, while Silva was going to take on Bruno Machado. The Global Titans Fight Series released a statement saying it hoped to reschedule the card with a date "announced very soon," per TMZ.

The matches were scheduled to take place on the Burj Al Arab helipad, which previously hosted tennis legends Roger Federer and Andre Agassi as well as golf superstar Tiger Woods. It also held a sparring session for boxer Anthony Joshua.

Mayweather's last official fight was a TKO of UFC superstar Conor McGregor in August 2017. It improved the five-division world champion's career record to 50-0.

He's continued to take part in exhibition events, taking on Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa on New Year's Eve 2018 and YouTube star Logan Paul last June.

"There's no more real fights for me," the 45-year-old told Lance Pugmire of The Athletic during the buildup to the Paul fight. "Only exhibitions."

The International Boxing Hall of Famer reacted to the death of Sheikh Khalifa in an Instagram post.

"Sending my condolences to the entire UAE," he wrote.

Silva, a former UFC middleweight champion who last fought in the Octagon in October 2020, is 2-0 since his return to the boxing ring last year. He's scored victories over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Tito Ortiz.

The 47-year-old Brazilian hadn't boxed since beating Julio Cesar De Jesus in his second career bout in 2005. He lost to Osmar Luiz Teixeira in his 1998 boxing debut.

It's unclear whether the Global Titans Fight Series will attempt to keep the event in Dubai or seek a change of venue.

When it comes to boxing, Canelo Alvarez doesn't want for much.

He turned pro as a teen, was a champion at 20 and has made more money across a decade-and-a-half in the ring than legends like Joe Louis, Ray Robinson or Muhammad Ali ever dreamed.

So it'd be natural to think—now 31 and with enough cash to support several generations—that the Mexican-born pound-for-pound ace would be content to rest on his laurels.

It'd also be wrong.

Rather than easing back and riding the mandatory defense train into a lucrative sunset, the undisputed king of the super middleweights is tilting at another weight-class windmill.

Alvarez will put his status as the sport's highest-profile star on the line this weekend in Las Vegas, where he'll face unbeaten Dmitry Bivol for the Russian's WBA light heavyweight title belt.

It's the second venture into 175-pound territory for Alvarez, who KO'd then-WBO champ Sergey Kovalev in 2019 but abdicated the throne to gather belts at 168. He finished that task with punishing KOs of Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant across six months in 2021 and already has a date with two-time middleweight foe Gennady Golovkin penciled in later this year to put a trilogy stamp on their rivalry.

But first it's Bivol.

And, to Alvarez at least, the motivation translates to a single word.

Legacy.

"I love boxing. And I want to accomplish all the things I can in boxing," he told Bleacher Report. "The best things—fight the best, fight all the champions, different weight classes.

"For me, my legacy is important."

Always has been, in fact.

It's a product of the mindset forged across a career-long partnership with trainers Eddy and Chepo Reynoso, who've been in the corner for every step on a path that's seen him grow—literally—from a skinny 140-pound 15-year-old to the muscular physique he's morphed into at 168 and 175.

He had his 34th pro bout a week before his 20th birthday and snatched his first belt at 154 pounds three fights and eight months later, defeating Matthew Hatton by unanimous decision in March 2011.

And the quest for greatness was officially on.

"Everything comes because of the people around me," he said. "You never know what is going to happen but if you work hard and keep in the gym and stay disciplined, things come.

"Things come together. When you love something the things come together. We never knew this was going to happen and we were going to do this and this and this. But it's all come together."

That first title bout aired on HBO's second-tier Boxing After Dark program, but the network's longtime blow-by-blow man, Jim Lampley, got the chance to call several of the evolving phenom's fights on World Championship Boxing shows and remains impressed by where he's come from where he was.

"Far more cosmic and multi-talented than I at first envisioned," Lampley told Bleacher Report.

"And you can say exactly the same thing in exactly the same terms about Eddy Reynoso. Chicken/egg. Both about as good as it gets. Counterpuncher by origin nature becomes indomitable attacker when he wants to be? Fewer than a dozen in history of boxing. A superstar with epic historic impact."

He unified and defended titles six times over the subsequent months before making the one mistake of his career—or at least doing the one thing he says now that he'd change—fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The two met in September 2013 when Alvarez, though a veteran of 43 fights, was still just 23 and hadn't been in an event that large, let alone against an opponent as good as Mayweather, even at 36. The older man befuddled him over 12 rounds, winning a majority decision that still stands as his only loss.

His then-promoter Oscar De La Hoya told Bleacher Report he advised Alvarez against taking the match, and Alvarez himself said the outcome might have been different had it occurred a bit later.

"I'm good with my career. But maybe the fight with Mayweather could have waited a little longer, when I got more experience and more fights on the biggest stages," he said. "Maybe that one. I think it could have been better for me. But I learned from that fight, too. So everything is in the correct time."

Indeed, he was a middleweight champion after defeating Miguel Cotto four fights after Mayweather and ultimately tamed—or at least held at bay—the boogeyman that was a then-unbeaten Golovkin, going 12 rounds for a split-decision draw in 2017 before returning exactly 364 days later to win a majority nod.

The aforementioned titles at super middleweight and light heavyweight have followed as part of a post-Golovkin run, in which Alvarez has won five of seven fights by KO while battling foes weighing anywhere from 160 to 175 pounds. He fought at 160 for the final time while defeating Daniel Jacobs in fight two of the series and a career-high 174.5 in beating Kovalev, who'd arrived with 29 KOs in 34 wins.

And assuming he beats Bivol to regain a piece of the action at 175, he may stay a while.

"They were asking me before, on the road to becoming undisputed champion at 168, 'If you accomplish this, what else is out there?'" he said. "You never know. Things always come around. There's always something right there. Right now I'm going to fight at 175 for the world title, so in my mind maybe why not be undisputed at 175? We'll see."

Artur Beterbiev is 17-0 with 17 KOs and holds the IBF and WBC belts in the weight class. He's scheduled to fight WBO champion Joe Smith Jr., whom Bivol beat in 2019, next month at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden.

Smith is 28-3 with 22 KOs.

As for Bivol, he's 19-0 has 11 KOs, but isn't perceived as nearly the power-puncher that Beterbiev and Smith are. In fact, he's gone the 12-round distance six straight times after scoring all his KOs in his first 13 career fights.

"He's a great fighter," Alvarez said.

"He's a solid champ at 175. Undefeated. He's a great boxer. He knows what to do in the ring. He's a beast and he's fast for his weight class. He's a really good fighter with a lot of experience."

Nevertheless, Alvarez is a significant favorite with the oddsmakers at DraftKings, who've installed him as a -475 pick (bet $475 to win $100) while Bivol is a +350 underdog (bet $100 to win $350).

Should those numbers hold out, and assuming a second Golovkin win in September, too, there'll be even more legacy talk for Alvarez—specifically about where he fits when it comes to all-time discussions.

But it's all premature, he said, because there's six or seven years left to build the resume, and he won't spend any sleepless nights thinking about it anyway.

"It doesn't matter for me where they put me," he said.

"I just work hard, fight hard and fight the best. And that's it."

The deterioration of the relationship between Gervonta Davis and Floyd Mayweather took another step Friday when Davis accused Mayweather of attempting to overshadow his upcoming bout with Rolando Romero.

"[Mayweather] had a press conference today and a fight on the same day..no matter how much money you have you can still be jealous of a [motherf--ker]!" Davis said in a now-deleted tweet.

Mayweather announced an exhibition against Don Moore on Thursday, which was the same day Davis and Romero had their head-to-head press conference. The Mayweather-Moore fight is set to take place in Dubai on May 14, two weeks ahead of Davis vs. Romero.

Davis has been signed to Mayweather Promotions throughout his professional career, but his bout with Romero is the final fight on his contract. The two have engaged in a war of words in recent weeks, with Davis making it abundantly clear he's been unhappy with his Mayweather arrangement for some time.

Mayweather's announcement of an exhibition came and went without much public attention, due in large part to Moore's lack of name recognition. It's unlikely anyone feels the Moore-Mayweather bout will take away from an actual match between two undefeated fighters two weeks later.

That said, the tension between Davis and Mayweather is very real.