Floyd Mayweather defeated Japanese fighter Tenshin Nasukawa in Round 1 of their exhibition match that took place on New Year’s Eve in Japan.
Nasukawa fell three times before their welterweight bout was over. Bleacher Report sent out a tweet revealing how much Mayweather made and how quick the fight was.
“Floyd Mayweather makes $9 million in 139 seconds after easily defeating Tenshin Nasukawa with three knockdowns.”
Mayweather, 41, left the 20-year-old kickboxing phenom in tears after the fight. Mayweather mentioned that this exhibition match won’t have an effect on either fighters professional record.
“It was all about entertainment. We had fun,” Mayweather said, via ESPN. “I’m still retired. I don’t look forward to coming back to boxing. I did it just to entertain fans in Japan. I’m still retired, I’m still 50-0, and Nasukawa is still undefeated and a hell of a fighter.”
The 5’4” 120-pound Japanese fighter holds four straight wins in Japan’s MMA outfit RIZIN. His last MMA win was in Oct. 2017, by way of unanimous decision, according to ESPN.
Talk Sport reports that Nasukawa has a 27-wins, no losses record in the pro kickboxing competition. His amateur kickboxing record stands at 105-5-1, which includes 62 knockouts.
Nasukawa has previous ring experience in a match with a boxer who turned to kickboxing. He knocked out former International Boxing Federation flyweight world champion Amnat Ruenroeng in 2017, Talk Sport reported.
Mayweather obtained his 50th career pro boxing win vs. UFC superstar Conor McGregor, in August 2017. Just like that fight, the match with Nasukawa was fought with boxing rules but this time with no judges, according to Talk Sport.
Some are calling the Mayweather vs. Nasukawa match a farce. Deadspin reported that Nasukawa flopped backward without a clean hit from Mayweather on the punch that ended the fight, considering it odd for a fighter who has never been knocked down in pro matches.
Mayweather’s Not Done
Mayweather’s old nemesis Manny Pacquiao retweeted a video clip meant to represent the Mayweather-Nasukawa fight. The video shows a sheep bowling over a child who approaches it with karate punches and kicks.
“Here is an early New Year’s resolution. To continue to only fight experienced opponents who are my size or bigger,” Pacquiao wrote in another tweet, which Boxing Scene interprets as aimed at Mayweather.
Pacquiao is set to fight Adrien Broner on Jan. 19. Broner has links to Mayweather through earlier mentorship and through Mayweather’s company being involved in the promotion of the upcoming fight, Boxing Scene reported.
Yahoo Sports thinks that the Broner fight could disrupt Pacquiao’s chances for a rematch with Mayweather if he happens to lose. The first time Mayweather and Pacquiao fought, they set a record for most pay-per-view sales ever. Pacquiao has been angling to get a rematch.
But Mayweather wants to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov next, according to a TMZ interview with Nurmagomedov’s manager. He said Mayweather and him have been texting back in forth for a month about a fight.
“He’s very much begging for the fight,” said Nurmagomedov’s manager in the video.
