Floyd Mayweather, the five-time world boxing champion, is to return to the ring in February 2021 to face a different kind of opponent. YouTube ‘influencer’ Logan Paul will be the 43-year-old legend’s opponent this time, in his third bout since he retired from top-level boxing.
Mayweather’s professional record is outstanding – he won all 50 of his professional bouts. The first time he fought since retiring was in 2017 when he took on MMA champion Conor McGregor. He beat the Irishman pretty easily, in what was one of the richest boxing bouts of all time.
He also fought Tenshin Nasukawa, a Japanese kickboxer, in December 2018. That exhibition bout was worth a reported $9 million, highlighting the pull that Mayweather still exerts when it comes to drawing an audience. Mayweather needed just 140 seconds to beat Naukawa by technical knockout.
Boxing legend versus YouTube infuencer
Logan Paul’s boxing record is very different. The YouTube star has fought professionally on just one occasion, taking on fellow YouTuber KSI in November 2019. Paul lost the bout, which generated 1.3 million paid views.
The bout with Mayweather is likely to attract a massive audience too, given that the 25-year-old Paul has over 22 million subscribers to his YouTube channel. He has been taunting Mayweather about a possible fight for some time, and now the bout will actually take place.
Prices for the fight will be scaled, with the first million buyers set to pay $24.99 to see the event. The price will then rise to $39.99 after the first million, before rising again – to $59.99 on December 29. If you decide to purchase a view of the fight after February 11 then the price will be $69.99. No additional details about the rules for the fight have been released yet.
In November, before the fight was confirmed with the recent signing of contracts, Mayweather took to Twitter to indulge in some of the typical trash talk tactics often deployed by boxers.
“These YouTube girls better find some Barbie dolls to play with cause I’m not the one for the kid games. 3 years ago a fighter from the UFC said my name and I had to put a muzzle on that bitch. @loganpaul can get the same treatment before I go conquer Japan again,” Mayweather tweeted.
Exhibition bouts are becoming increasingly popular and profitable in the world of professional boxing. The recent exhibition bout between Roy Jones Jr. and Mike Tyson garnered around 1.6 million paid views, for example.
Gervonta Davis versus Jake Paul on the undercard?
The bout has attracted plenty of attention from other boxers. Lightweight Ryan Garcia has expressed amazement at the fight being arranged, while WBA world super featherweight and lightweight champion Gervonta Davis has stated that he wants to be on the undercard.
Davis even tweeted Logan Paul’s brother Jake to suggest fighting each other on the undercard. Jake Paul defeated former NBA star Nate Robinson in a bout in November.
