YouTube sensation-turned-boxer, Logan Paul, escaped a knockout against Floyd Mayweather on Sunday night, fighting till the final of their exhibition boxing match at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida.
Paul emerged with dignity after going up against retired five-weight world champion Mayweather (50-0) took to the ring for the first time since a stoppage victory over kickboxer, Tenshin Nasukawa in an exhibition contest in December 2018.
Mayweather, now 44, swung with hurtful intentions and landed his fair share of punches, but Paul was able to hold on.
Paul, meanwhile, was fighting for the third time, having drawn an exhibition bout with fellow YouTube personality, KSI in 2018 before facing him again in a rematch a year later.
To his credit, the Youtube sensation was ambitious with the punches he threw but Mayweather evaded them easily, showing glimpses of what made him one of the greatest defensive fighters of all time.
He appeared exhausted in the last three rounds, but showed toughness to withstand a few of Mayweather’s punches, to survive until the final bell.
No official winner was announced, as per exhibition rules, but a knockout was allowed though it did not materialise in the fight.
After the fight, Mayweather played down his failure to stop Paul and admitted that he may never fight again after failing to defeat the Youtuber.
At the end of the fight, both fighters embraced each other as a sign of respect – an action which has since turned into a meme.
This exhibition match did not count towards Mayweather’s professional record of 50 wins and no defeats.
Speaking after the match, Mayweather said;
I wanted to give people a show and he was fighting to survive, he was the bigger guy but his background was wrestling so was good at tying me up.
Just going the distance was a win for him. He can grapple and was good at holding. When a guy that size is holding you, it’s hard to get him off you. I had fun, he did too. It was cool.
He added;
A guy that’s retired, training a few days a week, for me to be retired, be a grandfather and fight a guy in his 20’s. When the money comes, we will see who the winner is.
I am going into the Hall of Fame, I have nothing to prove. If they are happy with grappling and holding for eight rounds, that’s good for them. I hope the fans were pleased. I have been in this sport for so long, I was letting people see I can come out at the age of 44 and bring 30,000 to the stadium and bring good pay-per-view numbers.
Mayweather stressed;
I am not going to perform like I was 19, it’s all about growth and aging. I can’t fight like when I fought people like Gatti and people like that. It’s sad Pacquiao is coming out to fight again.
I could have pressed really hard but it was fun. His whole goal was to survive and that was a win for him. If he’s happy, so be it. In the history books I will always be the greatest.
He further stated;
Will I make a comeback? Absolutely not. I have retired from the sport of boxing. I probably won’t do an exhibition again either.
If he would have fought more, it wouldn’t have lasted eight rounds. I am just blessed to build a legacy and build a fortune from it. I have made some smart investments and everything is paid for. We did what we had to do tonight.
Paul walked away with a reported $26milliom (£14m) paycheque while Mayweather is said to be worth in the region of $100m (£70) when all the pay-per-view numbers are accounted for, according to Mail Online.
