Mayweather expects ‘easy payday, easy opponent’ in Japan fight

FILE–Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. Ethan Miller/Getty Images/AFP

Floyd Mayweather says that Sunday’s exhibition boxing match against Japanese mixed martial artist Mikuru Asakura will be an “easy payday, easy cheque, easy opponent.”

The 45-year-old boxing great, who is reportedly close to agreeing a rematch with UFC superstar Conor McGregor, beat Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa after just two minutes when they fought in an exhibition in Japan in 2018.

The fight was widely seen as a farce but the American vowed to give the crowd this weekend at Saitama Super Arena, just north of Tokyo, their money’s worth in his latest lucrative post-retirement performance.

“I think the last time I came here, it was so quick nobody got a chance to enjoy it,” Mayweather, whose nicknames include “Money,” said Thursday after a practice session which was delayed by an hour because he “overslept”.

“I’ll make it quick, but there’s not many bouts on the card so I’ll make sure to go to three (rounds), unless you all want me to make it quick.”

Japan’s Mikuru Asakura attends a press conference in Tokyo on September 12, 2022, before his boxing exhibition match against USA’s Floyd Mayweather on September 25. (Photo by Philip FONG / AFP)

Mayweather was reported this week as saying that he will fight McGregor for a second time next year.

The two met in a much-hyped boxing match in 2017, with Mayweather winning by a 10th-round technical knock-out to retire with a perfect 50-0 record.

His previous exhibition match was against “Dangerous” Don Moore in Abu Dhabi in May.

Mayweather was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in June.