By: Sean Crose
“It’s going to be fun,” says Floyd Mayweather of his Sunday pay per view event against social media star turned boxer Logan Paul. “It’s what I do. There’s a difference between being a YouTube fighter and an elite fighter. I’m a fighter and I don’t worry about anything. I’ve been a professional for 25 years and I’ve fought the best and seen every style and I always came out on top.” It’s hard to argue with Mayweather’s words. For what it’s worth, Paul has only fought once, and that wasn’t against a professional boxer. He still lost.
“Why not fight Logan Paul?” Mayweather asks rhetorically. “He’s huge on YouTube. He has a huge following. Before I even knew about YouTube, I was huge in boxing. And when you bring his world with my world, man it’s going to be crazy.” Mayweather is certainly right about that. Although his battle with Paul will only be an exhibition bout, the promotion has been phenomenal. “I’m glad he’s got confidence,” Mayweather says of his opponent. “I’m glad he believes in himself. Last time I checked, all 50 fighters that I faced, they all said the same thing.”
“I think I have to knock him out,” says Paul, essentially sounding as confident as Mayweather says he is. “Someone’s getting knocked out. Someone’s gonna quit.” So confident is the social media influencer that he says boxing has less wear and tear than mixed martial arts. “I didn’t choose boxing, boxing chose me,” he says. “I got challenged to box, and I answered that challenge. I kind of fell perfectly into the sport. Truthfully, boxing is easier on the body than MMA. MMA is hard. I got bad knees. I’m old now. I’m aging. My upper body is strong and I have dense bones. My strength is all in my upper body.”
One thing Paul is promising is to give it his all on Sunday night when he faces Mayweather in Miami. Although he’s far bigger and younger than Mayweather, few expect Paul to make much of a showing against the all time great. “I’m going to fight my heart out,” says Paul. “That’s the beautiful thing about this sport. In almost any other business, experience is going to trump everything else. But this is a fight, and anything can happen.” As for Mayweather, he seems just plain happy with how things have turned out for him in retirement.
“The boxing was the mashed potatoes,” he says. “I guess these guys now are the gravy. I retired from boxing, but I didn’t retire from entertainment or from making money.”