Floyd Mayweather and YouTube star Deji couldn't stop giggling as they faced off last night for the first time since announcing their exhibition bout.
The duo began their worldwide press tour with a stop at Mayweather's gym in Las Vegas, where they went head-to-head in front of the media. And unlike the heated media launch for Mayweather's last YouTuber bout with Logan Paul which ended in physical encounters, the two main event fighters were beyond cordial with one another.
Joined by promoter Uday Singh, Mayweather and Deji struggled to keep a straight face at times throughout the press conference, including when they posed for their first face-off. The Brit as recently as this March suffered his third loss in the boxing ring, but has now turned things around and earned himself a bout with one of boxing's greatest.
"I have no words, really," Deji said. "This is amazing, I'm truly blessed. I want to give thanks to God because honestly if it wasn't for him I wouldn't even be here, my team as well. Literally, this is surreal, all of this. I've seen this place on TV and now I'm here next to the champ, so I'm truly blessed. It's amazing, this is history, isn't it. That's all I can really say. I'm amazed."
Mayweather was similarly complimentary of his opponent, maintaining his usual demeanour around these big money exhibitions. This will be his second outing in Dubai, and his fifth such bout since retiring from the sport back in 2017 when he beat Conor McGregor to go 50-0.
"I'm just glad that we are able to come together and put another great event together," Mayweather said. "First, I want to thank all of the sponsors we have, there are so many different sponsors that are working on this event and we have so many people that's behind the scenes working on this crazy event. I've been here so many times as far as doing big exhibitions, doing big fights.
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"It's all about entertainment. As far as November 13, it's entertainment, entertainment, entertainment. I'm happy that we're able to go back to the UAE and give the people excitement. I'm happy to be here again, I'm pretty sure he's going to have fun, I'm going to have fun and the people from all around the world are going to be entertained."
Mayweather has been insisting these exhibition bouts shouldn't be called "fights". However, opponents such as Mikuru Asakura and Tenshin Nasukawa had to learn the hard way that he is able to move through the gears with ease even at the age of 45.
"That last exhibition I had to check the temperature," he explained. "I'm seeing what the guy is really on. He shot a jab, I touched it with my glove and I said 'oh he's trying to kill me' and I decided that I'd been here before since I have so much experience and I didn't know what to do. Sometimes they want me to carry the guy, I can carry a guy, but I could see this guy was upset so I gave the people what they want to see."
