Back in June of this year, Floyd Mayweather, having his latest exhibition affair, saw things get ugly after he stopped John Gotti III in the 6th round in Sunrise, Florida. Mayweather got the DQ win, this as ref Kenny Bayless threw the grandson of infamous mob boss John Gotti out for holding and for refusing to break.
Gotti was fuming and he went at Mayweather, before all manner of people piled into the ring, the brawl making plenty of headlines. Perhaps due to the “drama” the first bout conjured up, “Money” is going to run it back with Gotti III, over Super Bowl weekend. Mayweather took to social media to announce the rematch:
“Kicking off Super Bowl Weekend – Unfinished Business. See you guys in Las Vegas soon. More details coming soon!!” Mayweather wrote on his instagram plage.
The Super Bowl kicks off on February 11, so the fight will take place somewhere around that date. But do you want to see it? Controversy sells, and it appears as though Mayweather is banking on it doing so here. Gotti III threatened Mayweather after being slung out in June, the 2-0 boxer who has also fought MMA using some tough mob-guy type language:
“You’re a punk ass b***h! You my enemy for life,” Gotti III said to Mayweather, claiming he was never once hurt in the fight.
Instead of being Mayweather’s enemy for life, Gotti should really be thanking Mayweather for the second big payday he will now pick up. The first fight was only memorable (sort of memorable) due to the mid-ring antics that took place after the fight was stopped. During the action, 46 year old Mayweather pretty much played with his 30 year old opponent, with plenty of trash-talk also going on between the two.
Mayweather, who still whips himself into shape, this perhaps due to a fear of losing any fight, even an exhibition, had way too much skill and talent for Gotti. There is nothing to suggest it will be any different this time around. But Mayweather’s exhibition bouts do pull in decent numbers (most of them, anyway, Floyd’s February 2023 exhibition with Aaron Chalmers being one huge flop in the UK, with the bout taking place in an almost empty arena).
And, like it or not, these type of exhibition bouts, offered to us not only by Mayweather, but by other former champions, are not going away any time soon.