UFC President Dana White shared his initial reaction to news of an exhibition bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Logan Paul.
So Floyd Mayweather Jr. is going to box Logan Paul in an exhibition bout in February. Sounds about right.
With the reported success of Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. (supported by a co-main of Jake Paul vs. Nate Robinson), don’t expect the trend of celebrity fighting/circus fights to stop any time soon.
The match-up of 50-something-year-old boxing legends on social video platform Triller might have sold upwards of 1 million pay-per-view buys. That has sent Triller and other platforms scrambling to cash in.
FanMio, a platform that gives fans access to celebrities, is the latest to get in on the act by signing up retired boxing star Floyd Mayweather Jr. to hard spar versus immensely popular YouTuber Logan Paul (older brother of Jake, who sparked Nate Robinson a few weekends ago).
Paul the Elder is no stranger to celebrity boxing. In 2019 he lost his pro boxing debut to fellow YouTuber KSI. That fight was aired on DAZN and was a rematch to an amateur bout the pair had a year earlier.
Mayweather has also been involved in what some would call a circus fight, when he took on former UFC champ-champ Conor McGregor in a pro fight in 2017. That was McGregor’s first ever pro boxing bout. Mayweather won handily and then retired with a 50-0 record.
UFC President Dana White shared his thoughts on the booking, between a 43-year-old pro boxer who fought around the flyweight limit and a 25-year-old 200 lbs neophyte.
During an interview with Nelk Boys, White said “When people ask me what’s the state of boxing right now, that’s where it’s at. Didn’t that kid get beaten up by a fucking video game kid from England and now he’s going to fight Floyd Mayweather?”
Dana White on Logan Paul vs Floyd Mayweather pic.twitter.com/USDMU8EilD
— NELK (@nelkboys) December 7, 2020
White’s criticisms of booking hobbyists to fight professional combat sports athletes aside, the event seems likely to draw a sizable audience and perhaps a big payday for those involved. And, if Mayweather treats this fight like his last ‘exhibition’, maybe we’ll see a Paul brother on the wrong side of a highlight reel KO.