Floyd Mayweather skyndilega hættur við bardagann í Rizin

Mánudagsmorgun bárust þau óvæntu tíðindi að Floyd Mayweather myndi taka bardaga í japönsku bardagasamtökunum Rizin. Nú hefur hann hins vegar lýst því yfir að hann hafi aldrei samþykkt formlegan bardaga og þetta sé allt byggt á misskilningi.

Rizin hélt blaðamannafund á mánudaginn í Tokyo þar sem tilkynnt var um fyrirhugaðan bardaga Floyd Mayweather í Rizin gegn Tenshin Nasukawa. Floyd, Nobuyuki Sakakibara (forseti Rizin), Tenshin Nasukawa og fleiri voru viðstaddir blaðamannafundinn en á þeim tíma vissi enginn hvers konar bardaga var um að ræða eða í hvaða þyngdarflokki. Bardaginn átti að fara fram á gamlárskvöldi í Japan.

Nú virðist þetta hafa allt verið einn misskilningur en Floyd sagðist aðeins hafa samþykkt að taka einn sýningabardaga sem átti einungis að eiga sér stað fyrir framan nokkra vel auðuga áhorfendur fyrir stóra summu. Bardagann átti ekki að sýna opinberlega eða vera einhver formlegur bardagi.

Floyd segir að hann hafi lagt hanskana á hilluna og þéni ansi mikið fyrir að koma fram og stöku sinnum taka þátt í litlum sýningum.

Fyrir blaðamannafundinn hafði hann birt mynd af sér í Rizin hönskum en nú hefur hann fjarlægt þá mynd af Instagram síðu sinni. Rizin birti svo stiklu fyrir bardaga Floyd og Nasukawa en allt virðist þetta vera byggt á misskilningi miðað við orð Floyd í dag.

Yfirlýsinguna má sjá í heild sinni hér að neðan.

 

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Now that I am back on U.S. soil after a long and disappointing trip to Tokyo, I now have the time to address you, my fans and the media in regard to the upcoming event on December 31st that was recently announced. First and foremost, I want it to be clear that I, Floyd Mayweather, never agreed to an official bout with Tenshin Nasukawa. In fact (with all due respect) I have never heard of him until this recent trip to Japan. Ultimately, I was asked to participate in a 9 minute exhibition of 3 rounds with an opponent selected by the “Rizen Fighting Federation”. What I was originally informed of by Brent Johnson of “One Entertainment” was that this was to be an exhibition put on for a small group of wealthy spectators for a very large fee. This exhibition was previously arranged as a “Special Bout” purely for entertainment purposes with no intentions of being represented as an official fight card nor televised worldwide. Once I arrived to the press conference, my team and I were completely derailed by the new direction this event was going and we should have put a stop to it immediately. I want to sincerely apologize to my fans for the very misleading information that was announced during this press conference and I can assure you that I too was completely blindsided by the arrangements that were being made without my consent nor approval. For the sake of the several fans and attendees that flew in from all parts of the world to attend this past press conference, I was hesitant to create a huge disturbance by combating what was being said and for that I am truly sorry. I am a retired boxer that earns an unprecedented amount of money, globally, for appearances, speaking engagements and occasional small exhibitions.

A post shared by Floyd Mayweather (@floydmayweather) on Nov 7, 2018 at 10:53am PST