Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Logan Paul will square off in a special exhibition bout on June 6 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida. The exhibition will put one of the greatest boxers of our generation against a YouTube sensation who has an 0-1 record as a professional. Considering that the two are vastly different in terms of skill, experience and body type, the fight will happen under a special set of rules established by the Florida Boxing Commission.
In a similar manner as the Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. exhibition fight that took place last November, the fight won’t count as an official bout. Regardless of the outcome, Mayweather’s record will remain a spotless 50-0 while Paul cannot improve on his 0-1 record as a professional. This will be Mayweather’s second exhibition bout with his first taking place on Dec. 31, 2018. Mayweather stopped undefeated kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in the first round of a scheduled three-round fight.
Floyd Mayweather vs. Logan Paul rules
- No judges
- No official winner read
- Knockouts legal
- Knockouts are up to the referee’s discretion
- No headgear
- 10 oz. gloves
- Eight 3-minute rounds
Fight card
- Floyd Mayweather vs. Logan Paul — contracted exhibition (8 rounds)
- Badou Jack -2500 vs. Dervin Colina +1200, light heavyweight (10 rounds)
- Jarrett Hurd -900 vs. Luis Arias +600, junior middleweight (10 rounds)
- Chad Johnson vs. Brian Maxwell, contracted exhibition (4 rounds)
Mayweather vs. Paul predictions
Brian Campbell: The physical advantages Paul will enter the ring with can’t necessary be overlooked. The former standout high school wrestler and football player is 18 years younger than Mayweather, six inches taller and has a reach that is four inches longer. He’s also expected to be anywhere from 45 to 50 rounds heavier. Mayweather has never fought anyone bigger than 154 pounds and Paul weighed 199.5 pounds in his pro debut. Expect those never-before-seen obstacles to give Mayweather at least a round or two of pause as he gauges the hand speed and timing of his younger foe. But once he’s fully adjusted, Mayweather should have zero issue — even retired at age 44 — of being able to land clean, hard pull counters anytime he pleases. The biggest question regarding Paul’s ability to survive surrounds how good his untested chin can be against the pinpoint accuracy of a real professional. Paul is both hungry and fearless but his rudimentary knowledge of the sport compared to that of Mayweather can only produce one result: a mid-fight knockout.
Brent Brookhouse: Give Paul five more years of strong boxing training while Mayweather ages closer to 50 and Mayweather would still be the favorite in a fight. There’s no way for Paul to close the experience gap or get to Mayweather’s level of technique. That said, Paul’s size and strength advantages are very real, a fact of which Mayweather is certainly aware. As such, Mayweather will likely go slow in the opening round, taking in information and formulating his approach to the rest of the fight. While the bluster from Paul’s trainer that his jab rivals that of Larry Holmes is clearly nonsense, I have no doubt they have worked extensively on that jab to attempt to keep Mayweather from a closing distance and using all his technical advantages. It only makes sense to pick Mayweather here, but his pride does factor in a bit. There will be no on-site judges and no winner announced, which means if Mayweather wants to truly claim victory outside of on a “we all saw it” basis, he’s going to have to knock Paul out. I believe he can and will do so around Round 5, but is going to have to take some chances to make that happen, and that means exposing a 44-year-old chin to a man anywhere up to 50 pounds bigger than him. Look for a late Mayweather knockout in a fight that plays out in a way that is a bit more compelling than many expect.
FAQ
8
Well, not necessarily. Per the Florida commission there will be no judges and no official winner read. “Official” may be the key word here as an exhibition will not count toward a fighter’s actual win-loss record. Similar to the Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones exhibition, there will be no winner announced if the fight goes the distance. But there is a way that a fighter can “win.”
Yes,
there can be a knockout determined by the referee. That essentially means the fight will be stopped at the referee’s discretion if an opponent cannot continue due to accumulated damaged or being knocked down.