Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Logan “The Maverick” Paul face-off during a press conference at Hard Rock Stadium, in Miami Gardens, Florida, on May 6, 2021. Eva Marie UZCATEGUI / AFP |
The undefeated 44-year-old former welterweight world
champion reacted angrily at the Hard Rock Stadium after Paul’s brother, Jake,
grabbed his cap during a TV interview.
Mayweather chased down the Paul brothers and punches
appeared to be thrown in a melee involving a scrum of security staff.
Mayweather unleashed an expletive-laden tirade during the incident.
Insults had already been traded in an earlier confrontation,
with Logan Paul taunting Mayweather by referencing his 2011 domestic violence
case. Mayweather served two months of a three-month sentence after attacking an
ex-girlfriend.
Mayweather, meanwhile, claimed he would fight – and beat –
both Paul brothers on the same night before the event erupted into violence.
Logan Paul had to be pulled away from the melee by his
entourage while Mayweather continued to vent his fury before he too was hustled
away.
Before the brawl, Logan Paul told AFP he firmly believed he
could do what no boxer had ever done before and beat Mayweather.
“After this fight I don’t want anyone to tell me something
is impossible,” Paul said. “I am representing the guy who was counted out, the
guy who believed in himself so much that his unrelenting belief in himself
propelled him to success. That’s me.
“I don’t just think I can beat him. I know I can beat him.”
Mayweather meanwhile accused the Paul brothers of failing to
show him respect.
“You can’t keep crossing the line, keep touching me, taking
my hat off, touching my shoes,” Mayweather told AFP following the skirmish.
“There is a thing called respect and a thing called
disrespect. I am not going to tolerate any disrespect.
“I know how to sell a fight but you cannot cross the line.
They can say certain things about me, I can say things about them. But what I
won’t do is push or touch anyone.”
Jake Paul and Floyd Mayweather ahead of the braw |
Thursday’s event gave no further information about specifics of next month’s fight such as number of rounds or what size gloves would be used.
Paul, 26, first ventured into white-collar boxing in a bout
with British YouTuber KSI in 2018 that reportedly generated 1.3 million pay per
view buys worldwide, before a rematch in 2019 in Los Angeles.
Mayweather, meanwhile, has not fought in an officially
sanctioned boxing bout since beating mixed martial arts star Conor McGregor by
technical knockout in a money-spinning 2017 superfight in Las Vegas.
Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) came out of retirement for that
fight after hanging up his gloves two years earlier following an unbeaten
career spanning three decades.
-AFP
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