Floyd Mayweather is still winning boxing matches, even if they won't go on his official pro record.
The legendary boxer stopped Japanese MMA fighter and YouTuber Mikuru Asakura at the end of the second round with a big right hand on Sunday's Rizin Fighting Federation card in Saitama, Japan. It was Mayweather's second exhibition match this year and his second in Japan since his retirement from pro fights.
Mayweather will reportedly make in the range of $20 million for the bout, which was scheduled for three rounds. Manny Pacquiao, Mayweather's old rival, was ringside.
"I would like to thank the whole country of Japan," Mayweather said afterward. "Unbelievable country, unbelievable people. An exciting, incredible turnout. Round of applause for this great competitor right here."
After an uneventful first round in which Asakura landed some body shots, he had some success in the second round, connecting several times to Mayweather's head with lefts and rights from a southpaw stance.
But Mayweather, one of the best boxers ever and the highest-grossing combat sports athlete of all time, came back with hard shots of his own. He landed hard to the body right before the finish then set up Asakura for the big right at the second-round bell, which ultimately ended the bout.
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Asakura was slow getting up, and referee Kenny Bayless waved the fight off before either boxer got to his corner after the second.
"Thanks for having me," Mayweather told the crowd. "I'll be back."
Mayweather, 45, acknowledged Pacquiao in attendance in his postfight speech, calling him oddly a "future" world champion. Pacquiao, 43, addressed the fans before the exhibition and again afterward.
Prior to the fight, Pacquiao said Asakura, 30, had traveled to the Philippines to ask him for advice on how to compete against Mayweather. Pacquiao added that he was in attendance to support Asian combat sports. Afterward, Pacquiao said twice that he hopes he'll be invited back, causing the commentators to speculate that there could be something brewing with Rizin, Mayweather and Pacquiao.
"I hope this is not my last invitation to watch a good fight, a good exhibition," Pacquiao said.
In a strange scenario before the bout, a man who was supposed to bring Mayweather flowers -- a combat sports tradition in Japan -- threw the bouquet down on the canvas rather than handing it to Mayweather.
In a strange scenario before the bout, a man who was supposed to bring Mayweather flowers -- a combat sports tradition in Japan -- threw the bouquet down on the canvas rather than handing it to Mayweather.
In December 2019, Mayweather finished Japanese kickboxing prodigy Tenshin Nasukawa in the first round after three knockdowns. Nasukawa competes at around 120 pounds. Asakura was much closer to Mayweather's weight, perhaps a bit bigger, on Saturday, though there was no official contracted weight.
In an undercard bout to the Mayweather vs. Asakura headliner, Mayweather's bodyguard Ray "Jizzy Mack" Sadeghi was knocked out in a boxing match by 135-pound kickboxer Kouzi. There was no weigh-in, but Sadeghi was significantly larger than Kouzi in the ring.
Mayweather had an exhibition bout against Don Moore in May in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Mayweather has said he will participate in another such matchup in the Middle East before the end of the year, though no opponent has been named.
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Amanda Serrano defeats Sarah Mahfoud to unify featherweight titles
MANCHESTER, England -- Amanda Serrano resumed normal service on Saturday, responding to her second professional defeat earlier this year by picking up another world title with a unanimous-decision win over Sarah Mahfoud.
In a mostly one-sided affair, Serrano earned convincing scores of 99-92, 97-93, 97-93 to unify the world featherweight titles at the AO Arena. She rebounded from a decision loss to Ireland's Katie Taylor for all four world lightweight titles in April.
Serrano (43-2-1, 30 KO), ESPN's No. 3 pound-for-pound fighter and No. 1 featherweight, now holds three of the four world title belts at 126 pounds. It was her 14th win in 16 world title fights.
Erika Cruz (15-1, 3 KOs), 32, from Mexico, holds the WBA featherweight title and is a potential future opponent for Serrano if she wants to become undisputed world champion. Another option for Serrano would be to step up a division again and face the winner of the junior lightweight title unification clash between Americans Mikaela Mayer (17-0, 5 KOs), the IBF and WBO junior champion, and Alycia Baumgardner (12-1, 7 KOs), the WBC titleholder, who meet in London on Oct. 15.
For Serrano, a Brooklyn-based Puerto Rican, Saturday's fight marked a convincing return following a split-decision defeat to Taylor (21-0, 6 KOs) at Madison Square Garden. Serrano did her best work in the first half of the fight, before allowing Mahfoud to assert herself more in the later rounds, but the decision was never in doubt.
Mahfoud (11-1, 3 KO), 32, from Denmark, was making a second defense of her IBF title. In the biggest fight of her career, she quickly discovered Serrano's experience and ring IQ were too much for her to overcome.