The Citizen (KZN)

Entertainm­ent will be the winner, says Floyd

- Los Angeles

– Boxer Floyd Mayweather says his New Year’s Eve bout with Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa will be “all about the entertainm­ent”.

The nine-minute exhibition in Japan will have no official winner or loser if it goes the distance and Mayweather said at a press availabili­ty at his training base in Las Vegas this week he was looking forward to the event as a chance to sample “something different”.

The contest will take place at the Saitama Prefecture Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, Mayweather said.

Mayweather added that there and won’t be any judges present and the bout would not count on the combatants’ official fight records.

“It is all about the entertainm­ent,” he said. “Nine minutes of entertainm­ent .... I’m in the entertainm­ent business.”

Besides three-minute rounds, the exhibition will take place at 67kg, feature “straight boxing rules” and eight-ounce boxing gloves.

“This will be full contact competitio­n but the bout is not going on boxing or MMA records,” a Mayweather spokespers­on said in a news release.

Nasukawa said he hopes his countrymen will get behind the show.

“There has never been a Japanese fighter to face Floyd Mayweather in the ring. I would like to make a big impression,” the 20-year-old, who is 27-0 with 21 KOs as a featherwei­ght kickboxer said. – AFP

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