Floyd Mayweather will be competing in an exhibition boxing match on a Rizin card again. A press conference will take place in Las Vegas on Monday to confirm the news.
The timing of the news will raise eyebrows with Tenshin Nasukawa set to take on Takeru in an eagerly anticipated kickboxing match next weekend. That event is being co-promoted by Rizin whose president, Nobuyuki Sakakibara, was forced to call a press conference to deny allegations that he was involved with the Yakuza.
It was also revealed that the event would not have a domestic TV deal with networks apparently reluctant to work with Sakakibara. But after being forced to address this negative publicity Rizin appears to be back to the busines of putting on imaginative fights.
Overmatched opponent
In 2018 Mayweather appeared at Rizin 18. He took on Tenshin in an exhibition boxing match which made headlines all over the world but lasted less than three minutes.
Mayweather destroyed the overmatched Tenshin, who was competing in boxing for the first time. The American seems to have enjoyed the experience as he has taken part in two more exhibition bouts since then.
Mayweather is reported to have earned $9 million USD for that performance, making it the easiest pay day of his illustrious career. Tenshin looks set to become a full time boxer after the bout with Takeru although there wouldn’t be much appetite for a rematch given how one sided the first fight was.
The most likely opponent for Mayweather is Mikuru Asakura. He competes in Rizin’s 145lbs division which makes him a better match for Mayweather who spent much of his career at 147lbs.
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Business trip
His brother, Kai Asakura, was recently pictured with Mayweather during a training trip to Las Vegas. Sakakibara was also in the photo and it seems that the Rizin president discussed some business with the boxer.
There has been a lot of speculation that Rizin might lose its domestic TV deal in the wake of the yakuza allegations. Fuji TV was expected to broadcast the bout between Tenshin and Takeru but that deal fell through in the aftermath of a damaging newspaper article.
Fuji TV also televizes Rizin cards in Japan and losing that deal would be hugely damaging for the promotion. But getting the most recognizable boxer on the planet to compete in an exhibition bout on an upcoming guard seems like a guaranteed way to keep your broadcast partner on board.
