By: Sean Crose
Tomorrow night at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, the biggest exhibition bout this side of Mike Tyson – Roy Jones will be broadcast live via Showtime pay per view. For that’s when Floyd Mayweather, who may very well be the greatest fighter of his generation, returns to fight social media star Logan Paul in an eight round exhibition bout. Let’s be honest, this is an event designed for fun, not to be taken seriously. Should he want, Mayweather could really hurt Paul, despite the fact Jake’s older brother is far taller and younger than the future Hall of Famer. Let’s hope nothing like that happens. Floyd should easily dominate, though boxing being boxing, one never can really tell.
Now in his mid forties, Mayweather last fought professionally back in 2017, when he pretty much easily dominated UFC star Conor McGregor, a man who was literally out of his league. Since that time, the fighter named Money has thrashed a Japanese kickboxer and found a way to stay in the spotlight. As for Paul, the social media celebrity has a huge following and is game to get in there with a legend. He also appears to be in terrific shape walking in, so there’s that.
The undercard actually isn’t half bad. The talented former super welterweight titlist Jarret Hurd, 24-1 will be battling the 18-2-1 Luis Arias in a scheduled ten round middleweight affair. Chad Johnson, of NFL fame, will also be appearing on the card, making his boxing debut in an exhibition match against the 0-3 Brian Maxwell. Johnson admits this is a one time thing. He likes boxing and this is simply something he wants to try. Good for him for giving it a shot on such a huge scale, and good for Maxwell, who is also 2-3 in mixed martial arts, for getting onto a big stage like this.
The one fight hardcore fans were truly excited about heading into the weekend now isn’t happening. When the now 23-3-3 Badou Jack battled Jean Pascal in a light heavyweight war a few years’ back, the fight world offered deep nods of approval. There was good reason to be excited, then, when it was announced the two would fight again this Sunday. Unfortunately, Pascal got popped for numerous banned substances, and now is off the card. He’s being replaced, however, by the 15-0 Dervin Colina, an unknown who, regardless, has has won all but two of his fights by knockout. Talk about the chance of a lifetime.
The Floyd Mayweather – Logan Paul card will be aired live starting at 8 PM Eastern Time Sunday on Showtime Pay Per View.