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MIAMI GARDENS, Florida – There wasn’t a time Sunday night when Floyd Mayweather felt he was on the verge of knocking out Logan Paul.
His heavier, taller, younger opponent held Mayweather whenever the favored legend landed a clean shot. That tactic mostly prevented Mayweather from capitalizing on the flush punches with which he hit Paul during the middle rounds of their eight-round exhibition at Hard Rock Stadium.
Paul ultimately made it to the final bell, which the social media/YouTube superstar touted as a win afterward. The 44-year-old Mayweather – who went off as a 7-1 favorite, according to the William Hill sports book – suspects that if Paul would’ve taken more chances, it would’ve led to the defensive-minded Mayweather winning by knockout.
“If think if he would’ve fought,” Mayweather said during their post-fight press conference, “if he tried to fight a lot more, then it probably wouldn’t have went the eight.”
Judges weren’t assigned to score their exhibition, thus neither fighter was announced as the winner of what was broadly condemned as a disappointing spectacle.
Detractors criticized Mayweather for allowing a comparative novice to last all eight rounds with him in their Showtime Pay-Per-View main event. The 26-year-old Paul possessed a seven-inch height advantage and might’ve out-weighed Mayweather by 50-plus pounds by the time they entered the ring.
Those disadvantages didn’t prevent Mayweather from being the aggressor for most of their encounter.
“He was a little awkward,” Mayweather said. “I had to press the action. Me, being this small, shouldn’t be able to walk to a man that big. I was pressing the action. He’ll punch, two punches, hold. Three punches, hold. So, there’s nothing really I can do. I mean, um, as you guys see, he was putting his leg on the rope. He was fatigued. But, I mean, when I talk about this exhibition, I’m gonna talk about he know how to hold. He’s a great holder, a great grappler, also.
“But um, like I said, I’ve been in this sport for so long, so long, and tonight was just, I was letting the people see that I’m able to come out, at my age, at 44, and still sell out 30,000, and still do crazy numbers to where I can make [Showtime’s website for ordering the event] crash. So, I’m truly blessed. I’m not here to bash anyone, talk bad about anyone.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.