It’s all about entertainment – Floyd
Credit to Author: Tempo Online| Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2018 09:00:58 +0000
LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Boxer Floyd Mayweather says his New Year’s Eve bout with Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa will be “all about the entertainment”.
The nine-minute exhibition in Japan will have no official winner or loser if it goes the distance, and Mayweather said at a press availability at his training base in Las Vegas on Thursday that he was looking forward to the event as a chance to sample “something different”.
The contest will take place at the Saitama Prefecture Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, Mayweather said.
Saitama is 16 kilometres (10 miles) north of Tokyo.
Mayweather added that there won’t be any judges present and the bout would not count on the combatants’ official fight records.
“It is all about the entertainment,” Mayweather said. “Nine minutes of entertainment …. I’m in the entertainment business.”
Besides three-minute rounds, the exhibition will take place at 67kg (147 pounds), feature ‘’straight boxing rules’’ and eight-ounce boxing gloves.
“This will be full contact competition but the bout is not going on boxing or MMA records,” a Mayweather spokesperson said in a news release.
Nasukawa, also in Vegas Thursday, said he hopes his countrymen will get behind the show.
“There has never been a Japanese fighter to face Floyd Mayweather in the ring. I would like to make a big impression,” said the 20-year-old, who is 27-0 with 21 KOs as a featherweight kickboxer.
“I want to get the whole fight community, the whole country of Japan and the entire world involved in this fight.”
Thursday’s press event came almost a month after 41-year-old retired welterweight champ Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) announced he had scrapped plans to stage a fight with Nasukawa, indicating he had been duped into agreeing to a contest.