Floyd Mayweather doesn’t take these exhibitions too seriously. He doesn’t have to.
The 45-year-old Hall of Famer is scheduled to face mixed martial artist Mikuru Asakura in a pay-per-view boxing exhibition Sunday in Saitama, Japan (Saturday in U.S.).
He was asked at a recent news conference how he prepares for such “fights.” He doesn’t do much.
“We don’t train as much as we did when we were competing,” said Mayweather, referring to his actual boxing career. “When we were competing, we were competing against the biggest and best in the sport of boxing.
“Now we do a little. We may train a few days, let the body rest a days, train a few days, let the body rest a few days. We really don’t train too much. We really just travel and enjoy life.”
In other words, he could dominate fighters like Asakura in his sleep.
“As far as boxing, competing at the highest level,” he said, “I did that for so long that when it’s time to go out and do what I got to do, I got that on lock.”
Indeed, Mayweather expects to bring more than enough into the ring to inflict damage against Asakura, saying this is fight is “between a jet and a fly.”
“I know this is just an exhibition match,” he said, “but with my single punch I can guarantee you that his stomach will flare up like an eggplant.”
For his part, the mostly silent Asakura told Mayweather through a translator, “You talk a lot.”
Mayweather, whose last sanctioned bout was his knockout of Conor McGregor in 2017, has taken part in three previous exhibitions. He faced Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in 2018, YouTuber Logan Paul last year, and former sparring partner Don Moore this past May.
And Mayweather has said he might take part in one more exhibition before the end of the year.
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