Newly inducted Hall of Fame member Floyd Mayweather held a press conference along with MMA star Mikuru Asakura, who Mayweather will face in an exhibition on a date to be determined in September as part of a Rizin Fighting Federation show.
Mayweather spoke about the potential Errol Spence-Terence Crawford showdown, which would be for the undisputed championship in the welterweight division.
A recent report on ESPN.com suggested that an agreement was close for the fight to take place on a date in October. Mayweather quickly shut down those rumors.
“Errol Spence, hell of a fighter. Terence Crawford, hell of a fighter. I seen, if I am not mistaken, someone threw out a date or a month,” Mayweather stated.
When various reporters answered his question by stating the month of October with the date potentially being October 29th, Mayweather responded by saying, “Not true. When it is true y’all will hear it from me first or from Fighthype.”
Mayweather has made it known in the past that he would like to promote Crawford who is a promotional free agent. Those prior comments combined with Mayweather’s comments led to the next question being if a promotional deal with the three-division champion is imminent.
“It’s so many things that I can really talk about that I’m not going to talk about. Just because – and I love ESPN – they have boxing writers and they are paying them, doesn’t mean they are right. When you see Fighthype post or you see a text message [from me]… and you see I say this [reported information] is not true,” said Mayweather.
“This is no different than when Amir Khan was saying, ‘me and Floyd just talked about doing an exhibition.’ That wasn’t true. Amir Khan saw me in the lobby of the Armani Hotel in Dubai and he said get on my video with me and he was recording when I talked. Next thing you know he said, ‘Me and Mayweather talked about doing an exhibition’ which is not true.”
The date and rules for Mayweather-Asakura are expected to be announced in the upcoming weeks.
