Critics mock Money-weather after ‘fix’ in fight farce

Floyd Mayweather made $13 million but few friends with his hasty knockdown of Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa.

The great American boxer may be impressed with his money-making expertise, but many seasoned observers regarded the fight in Japan as a fix of sorts. It was hard to find anyone in Mayweather’s corner.

Under the headline: Was the Floyd Mayweather fight fixed? Jesse Holland wrote on mmamania.com: “Most of what I’ve seen online about the fight being fixed stems from Nasukawa’s knockdowns.

“The uncharacteristically aggressive May weather has never been known as a power puncher and ‘Teppen’ was launched across the ring with every blow, flopping around on the ground like a freshly-spawned Magikarp.

“Let’s face it, in so many ways the fight was rigged. It was created as an exhibition bout to protect Mayweather’s record in case of an unexpected disaster, Nasukawa was prevented from using any kicks, and the contest was only scheduled for three rounds.”

Mayweather told the BBC: “It was all about entertainment — we had a lot of fun. They wanted this to happen in Japan, so I said ‘why not?’”

Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix tweeted the contest was “as dumb as I expected”. ESPN’s Dan Rafael said “Floyd assaulted a 122-pounder who is not a boxer”.

MMA/boxing writer Kevin Iole from yahoo.sports tweeted that Mayweather was a great fighter but it was ridiculous to give him praise for “pummelling” a bantamweight.

The Guardian said the contest had done “more for bank balances than combat sports’ reputation”.