Floyd Mayweather To Fight Dec. 31 for RIZIN in Japan, Using Hybrid Rules
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Michael Woods
He zigs when you think he will zag. He goes off radar for long stretches, then pops up in an exotic locale. He posts a selfie, often just him, soaking up the scene. Or maybe him and a stack, piles of green next to his side, testifying to…well, I depends on what you think of Floyd Mayweather.
The value of hard work, dedication to craft, unceasing dilligence at working to be the very best in your business.
Naysayers would offer option B, noting that through the ages, the upper echelon spiritual masters have not opined that the best way to reach a place of contentment and enlightenment is accumulating currency.
Leave his reason for being aside now…Last night, we learned that Mayweather, age 41, will re-enter the fighting life at the end of the year. Not in a ring, using Queensberry rules…and not in an Octagonal cage. Instead, he will spread his wings and work within the confines of the RIZIN organization.
Floyd posted that pic of him wearing Rizin gloves. What will he and opponent Tenshin Nasukawa…
..will fight, that we know. Nasukawa (27-0 in kickboxing) is best known as an ace kickboxer, so will there be kicking, or nah? I’d bet no, because that 20 year old pup smashing those 41 plus year old legs, I doubt Floyd allows that.
According to TMZ, which broke the story, the event takes place on Dec. 31, at Saitama Super Arena — the 3rd largest indoor arena in the world. It seats 36,000 plus.
You all know Floyd owns a 5-0 record and last fought in a ring against Conor McGregor. He added to his greenery pile and we wonder if this event could allow him to get a payday of that variety. A language barrier will hamper hype, no? And there is only one Conor McGregor; this 126 pounder Nasukawa seems like a regular Joe, not a hype master or shit stirrer.
At the presser, which unfolded on Sunday night our time, Floyd said he’s been to Tokyo eight or ten times, and likes the people. He said, “I couldn’t choose a better company than RIZIN,” and didn’t mention his previous partner, Showtime. He said he will do more with Rizin, and “take this worldwide.”
He wants to give the fans “blood, sweat and tears,” he continued, as Brent Johnson, a business partner, who runs ONE ENTERTAINMENT, sat to his right. He said Mayweather Promotions has been making “huge fights” in the US but wants to grow the pie by branching out more so internationally.
So…Floyd has been off since September 2017. He's been sifting offers, you know he gets a pile of them on a daily basis. Japan has a track record of being receptive to American pop icons, and enjoying larger than life types. This seems like a good sector for Floyd to gain a receptive audience. I think there are other shoes to drop here, other partnerships, because he will want to still make impact in America, and US partners will be useful to help.
We wonder how long people in the know had gotten wind of this development, as we've seen Showtime working hard to build up other fighters and moving towards other possible sources of revenue generation.
Many US fight fans will be looking cynically at this move to RIZIN and will wonder if this is a stunt, or something more. Talk to us, readers; what are your thoughts on the Mayweather comeback?
Hey, now you know you have a fallback New Year's Eve plan, right, if that stellar party invite doesn't come in?
Founder/editor Michael Woods got addicted to boxing in 1990, when Buster Douglas shocked the world with his demolition of the then-impregnable Mike Tyson.
The Brooklyn-based journalist has covered the sport since for ESPN The Magazine, ESPN.com, Bad Left Hook and RING. His journalism career started with NY Newsday in 1999.
Michael Woods is also an accomplished blow by blow and color man, having done work for Top Rank, DiBella Entertainment, EPIX, and for Facebook Fightnight Live, since 2017.