Face to face: Floyd Mayweather and Logan Paul will face off in an exhibition bout in Miami (Image: GETTY)
Floyd Mayweather vs Logan Paul: Fight Card
- Floyd Mayweather vs Logan Paul – 190-pound exhibition bout
- Badou Jack vs Dervin Colina – light-heavyweight bout
- Jarrett Hurd vs Luis Arias – middleweight bout
- Chad ‘Ochocinco’ Johnson vs. Brian Maxwell – cruiserweight exhibition bout
1:00am: Former cruiserweight world champion Johnny Nelson has joined the Sky Box Office panel as they try to keep the interest up during the long build-up to the first fight of the night.
And while nobody has attempted to build a case for Logan Paul actually winning, Nelson brought a stark sense of reality of just how big of a mismatch we’re about to see tonight.
“Unless Floyd Mayweather goes out there blindfolded, and probably drunk, how can he possibly lose to this young man?” he said, with a smile.
12:40am: The fight’s rules are a little, well, strange.
Knockouts are legal. However, there will be no judges at ringside, and no official winner will be declared.
Floyd Mayweather vs Logan Paul: Exhibition rules
- No ringside judges
- No official winner to be announced
- Knockouts are legal
- Knockout is up to referee’s discretion
- 10-ounce gloves to be worn, with no headgear
- Fight to be contested over eight 3-minute rounds
- Fighters to weigh no more than 190 pounds
Logan Paul pulls on the gloves during his open workout (Image: GETTY)
12:30am: Logan Paul may have the height and reach advantage, but the difference in boxing ability isn’t so much a skills gap as an almighty chasm.
And British boxer and Mayweather gym fighter Viddal Riley, who trained YouTuber KSI in his two fights against Logan Paul, said “The Maverick’s” physical advantages will count for nothing once the fight starts.
In one line, he aptly described what the overwhelming majority of fight fans are thinking about Paul’s chances heading into the fight.
“The skill’s so low, the weight doesn’t matter.”
Size difference: Logan Paul towered over Floyd Mayweather at the weigh-ins (Image: GETTY)
12:15am: Paul, 26, has been given virtually no chance of success against the boxing icon, but that hasn’t stopped the Ohio native from portraying a confident attitude heading into tonight’s fight.
“People are asking me if I’m like scared. No, no I’m not scared,” he said
“The feelings I’m getting right now are just excitement.
“I’m excited, I’m blessed to have this opportunity, and I think we’re going to wow a lot of people.
“I just don’t believe I’m gonna get in there and people are gonna see what they expect to see.”
Paul towered over Mayweather at the weigh-ins after tipping the scale at 189.5 pounds, 34 and a half pounds heavier than Mayweather, who came in at 155 pounds.
But, as Mayweather stated afterward, size won’t matter when the pair start throwing leather.
“Height doesn’t win fights, weight doesn’t win fights,” he said.
“Fighting wins fights… and I can fight.”
12:10am: The first fight of the evening will see former NFL wide receiver Chad ‘Ochocinco’ Johnson make his boxing debut.
The 43-year-old will be trying his hand at boxing for the first time.
He has previously trained with Mayweather during the NFL off-season, however.
Ochocinco will be taking on bare-knuckle boxer Brian Maxwell, who has lost his only three previous fights.
Elsewhere, former world champion Jarrett Hurd is expected to pick up a victory over Luis Arias in their middleweight bout.
Hurd, who held the unified WBA (super), IBF and IBO light-middleweight titles between 2017 and 2019, is looking to make his way back to a title fight.
And the 30-year-old is expected to pick up the win against Arias, who is fighting for the first time since 2019, and hasn’t earned a victory since June 2017.
Former WBC super-middleweight and WBA light-heavyweight champion Badou Jack is also set for action on the card.
Jack was originally slated to face fellow former world champion Jean Pascal in a rematch of their 2019 light-heavyweight title fight, which Pascal won by split decision.
However, Pascal failed a drug test in the lead-up to the fight, and has been replaced by undefeated contender Dervin Colina, who has won all bar two of his 15 pro fights inside the distance.
12:05am: Despite losing his professional debut to fellow YouTube star KSI in November 2019, Paul challenged Mayweather to a fight last year, which was confirmed in December.
The affair was initially scheduled for February 2021 but was postponed until this month due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Mayweather is set to earn a monstrous payday from the event, with the Hall of Famer claiming he will make over $100million (£70million) for fighting Paul.
He said: “I can fight a fighter right now, and I can guarantee myself $35million. I can eventually probably make $50million for just a regular fight.
“Or me and Logan Paul can go out, entertain, have fun and make nine figures, $100million or more.”
12:00am: The sport of boxing has seen many big-money, big-occasion matchups, but few have been quite like the one we’re about to witness tonight.
There are no world titles on the line. Indeed, officially, there are no professional records on the line.
Instead, tonight’s main event is an exhibition bout between one of the greatest technical boxers in the sport’s history and a young upstart YouTuber with a massive social media following who has only boxed twice in competitive bouts in his life.
It’s the latest instalment of the Floyd Mayweather money-printing bandwagon, as the 44-year-old taps into the lucrative social influencer market for what, on paper at least, should be by far his easiest assignment since this first bout as a professional back in October 1996.