Mayweather makes easy work of Tenshin
The surreal event that was Floyd Mayweather’s appearance for RIZIN in Japan went down Monday morning. In the main event of RIZIN 14 from Saitama, Japan, Floyd Mayweather met local kickboxing sensation Tenshin Nasukawa in a boxing exhibition, that Mayweather was said to earn $9 million for.
Mayweather was relaxed and nonchalant during the staredown and fight instructions, not even bothering to look at his opponent. Mayweather smiled and laughed at Nasukawa from a few seconds in, probably sensing that the fight was already his.
The fight didn’t go past the first round as Mayweather toyed with Nasukawa, knocking him down three times inside the opening three minutes, causing the corner to throw in the towel.
In contrast to the McGregor fight, Mayweather was much more aggressive early on, which could be a testament to McGregor’s boxing skill compared to Nasukawa although this exhibition was only three rounds, where Mayweather had 12 rounds and a game plan to allow McGregor to tire out.
This was Mayweather’s first boxing appearance since he defeated Conor McGregor in August 2017. Mayweather has said he will remain retired, but don’t be surprised if we see him return for another big payday if the opportunity presents itself.
The RIZIN 14 card was available on the FITE.tv app, but was only announced as such a few days ago. The Mayweather fight itself was not able to be seen if you purchased the show on FITE, likely due RIZIN and FITE being unable to negotiate a cut for Mayweather.
Monday Notebook
-Also on the RIZIN card, Kyoji Horiguchi defeated Bellator bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell in the third round. Caldwell appeared to be cruising towards a decision win by taking Horiguchi down and maintaining control when he got caught in a guillotine shortly after taking Horiguchi down.
–Daniel Cormier appeared on “The MMA Hour” today and said that the Lesnar fight is “still up in the air,” but if that fight doesn’t come through he would be happy to fight Stipe Miocic again.
-The PFL Finals are airing tonight on NBC Sports Network. There are six tournament finals plus judo champion Kayla Harrison taking on Moriel Charneski.
In case you missed it
–MMA YEAR IN REVIEW: September sees Jon Jones cleared to return to UFC
-MMATORCH YEAR END AWARDS: Knockout of the Year
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