AN UNPRECEDENTED MATCH-up between boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr and a Japanese kickboxer half his age is back on, according to the Japanese promoter behind the fight.
The bout between Mayweather and Tenshin Nasukawa, first announced earlier this month, was abruptly scrapped by the American boxer shortly after he revealed his plans to take on the kickboxer.
But on Friday, the CEO of mixed martial arts promotor RIZIN said the fight planned for New Yearโs Eve was back on.
โMisunderstanding with Floyd Mayweather has been resolved,โ Nobuyuki Sakakibara tweeted on his account.
โHe will face off against Tenshin Nasukawa on 31 December, New Yearโs Eve.โ
ใใญใคใใปใกใคใฆใงใถใผ้ธๆใจใฎใในใขใณใใผในใฟใณใใฃใณใฐใฏ่งฃๆฑบใใพใใใๅฝผใฏ12ๆ31ๆฅๅคงๆฆๆฅใซRIZIN.14ใฎใชใณใฐใง้ฃ้ ๅทๅคฉๅฟ้ธๆใจๅฏพๆฑบใใพใใ่ฉณ็ดฐใฏๆฅๆฌใซๆปใฃใๆใซ่จ่ ไผ่ฆใง่ฉฑใใใฆ้ ใใพใใ#rizinff pic.twitter.com/l7sgPW3Go8
โ NOBUYUKI SAKAKIBARA (@nobu_sakakibara) November 16, 2018
โI will talk about the details at a press conference when I return to Japan,โ he added, alongside a picture of himself, Mayweather, and a third man.
The tweet comes after Mayweather told the US website TMZ Sports on Wednesday in California that the fight would go ahead.
โWeโre going to make it happen,โ he reportedly told the site.
โItโs a no-brainer.โ
When the fight was first announced, it was unclear what rules would govern the match-up between the retired welterweight boxer and Nasukawa, an unbeaten kickboxer.
But Mayweather told TMZ Sport the face-off would involve โno kicking.โ
โRules? Itโs going to be a little boxing exhibition,โ he said.
โIโm moving around with the guy for nine minutes, and of course itโs going be the highest paid exhibition ever,โ he added.
The unbeaten 41-year-old, who won world titles in five different weight divisions, made headlines earlier this month when he announced on his Instagram page that he was coming out of retirement for the fight.
โI want to give the people what they want โ blood, sweat and tears,โ he told a news conference in Tokyo afterwards.
But just two days later he posted a lengthy statement on his social media accounts saying he had been โblindsidedโ by organisers of the bout and had โnever agreedโ to the fight.
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That is a huge shame. I think anyone with an interest in Irish boxing would have thought he was one of our hopes for an Olympic medal.
Unfortunately if there is a hint of corruption itโs nothing new in boxing. It can have predetermined outcomes as bad as wwe sometimes.
Agreed, he demolished Kenny Egan a few months ago and we had high hopes for him, he still very young though and the lad will come good .
There was always a danger of this.
We saw what happened in Beijing with K Egan against the Chinese opponent. If the UEFA boys are taking backhanders the boxing boys are certainly taking them. Fighting a Turkish fighter in Turkey was always going to be a massive ask as a result. Itโs a real pity but heโs young enough to come back for the next Olympics.
Boxing is becoming a farce though with the blatant fixing of fights.
Corruption is so widespread in Turkish sport it even has itโs own Wikipedia entry http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Turkish_sports_corruption_scandal#section_1 And there are few โsportsโ as corrupt as boxing, there have been numerous examples in the past year alone. So whoever thought it a good idea to hold a boxing tournament in Turkey mustโve been a little on the slow side.
Im betting the judges were Turks as well knowing the ebu
The referee was from Kazakhstan, and the ringside judges from the Philippines, China, Italy, Algeria and Croatia.
Guttedโฆ! Chin up Ward, long career ahead of you yet!
Heโs used to hearing chin down :)
Boxing scoring is becoming like Eurovision voting.
And I made a spelling mistake great :O Yourโs* donโt I look silly :L
Katie Taylor has one final chance to qualify for the Olympics but its in china probably against a Chinese girl so donโt rule out two of our best medal chances not even being at the games.
Cheers Niall :) and the mighty Joe will be back heโll put every man he meets on the canvas from now on! Thatโll leave no doubt about it!
Off the boxing topic, but it is incredibly annoying when you put some quotes in blue boxes and others not. Make up your mind! Plus if you use quotation marks they go at the beginning and end of a quote. Youโre sincerely a stressed out leaving cert English student who struggles to correct all his own grammar etc. as well as the Journalโs! :) rant over.
Thanks Rob, nice to get some feedback on the quote boxes. Didnโt realise they were so off-putting.
As for the quotation marks โ if the quote in question continues on over a few paragraphs, itโs accepted style not to use the close marks at the end of every paragraph, just at the end of the entire quote. Although I wouldnโt start doing that for the Leaving Cert, itโll probably just stress you out even more!
Good luck with the exams.
Yeah@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get a life
Any word on how the protest went?
Gutted for Ward, such a talent.