After appearing at a press conference and acknowledging the bout, Floyd Mayweather claims the entire ordeal was a misunderstanding!
Apparently the official press conference and the announcements on numerous social media sites were all a gross misunderstanding by Rizin! Mayweather states he only agreed to a three round, nine minute exhibition with hybrid rules. The event was not to be televised worldwide, but only be available to wealthy viewers.
However, Rizin Fighting Federation obviously had other ideas! Shortly after returning to the United States, Floyd Mayweather had this to say:
“First and foremost, I want it to be clear that I, Floyd Mayweather, never agreed to an official bout with Tenshin Nasukawa. In fact (with all due respect) I have never heard of him until this recent trip to Japan. Ultimately, I was asked to participate in a 9 minute exhibition of 3 rounds with an opponent selected by the “Rizen Fighting Federation.
“Once I arrived to the press conference, my team and I were completely derailed by the new direction this event was going and we should have put a stop to it immediately. I want to sincerely apologize to my fans for the very misleading information that was announced during this press conference and I can assure you that I too was completely blindsided by the arrangements that were being made without my consent nor approval.”
It seems a bit odd that Mayweather would agree to do an official press conference announcing a fight with Nasukawa sitting adjacent to him, but claim he never agreed to said bout. To his credit, he does admit he shouldn’t have gone through with it. However, that is a major error on his part; allowing for the misleading of many of his supporters.
Nevertheless, it appears the retired future hall of fame inductee will continue to be retired…for now!
By: Corey Cunningham
