There wasn’t an official decision or even judges at ringside to score Floyd Mayweather and Logan Paul’s recent exhibition fight, but experts and fans who watched at home thought it was pretty obvious the undefeated professional won the fight pretty easily. That being said, many were still surprised the result wasn’t more lopsided. Some conspiracy theories have even claimed Mayweather took it easy on Paul and carried him to the finish line. Well, Floyd’s uncle Jeff Mayweather has now gone public with some thoughts.
The former boxing champ and member of one of the most successful boxing families in history appeared on the Champ And The Chump podcast, and the topic of his nephew’s fight against Logan Paul obviously came up. Mayweather said he thinks Floyd was trying to knock out his younger rival but just couldn’t get the job done. Here’s a portion of his quote...
I think a lot of people were disappointed because everyone thought there was going to be a knockout… I think he wanted to knock him out of course, but he couldn’t. The guy was too big, and like you said, he did so much holding and was strong enough to take those shots and when he got hit, as soon as he got hit, he locked up. That made the fight a little ugly… I still think if Floyd was younger, he would have knocked him out.
I can attest to the fact that lots of people were disappointed by the fight. There was a lot of clutching and grabbing from Paul’s end, and there weren’t nearly enough power punches landed. Floyd Mayweather himself even seems to realize that given he referred to himself as a bank robber in a recent conversation. So, good on Jeff Mayweather to acknowledge that.
As for whether Floyd Mayweather was trying to knock Logan Paul out though, that’s a bit more complicated. It’s obvious he was definitely trying for stretches during the fight. He clearly did enough to win on any unbiased scorecard, but there also wasn’t an obvious attempt to do much offensively. In fact, one of Mayweather’s best sequences in the fight seemed to come after Paul actually landed a punch and Mayweather knew he needed to score in response. You could say that’s a sign he could have done more, but Mayweather also has a long history in real boxing matches of playing to win instead of trying to generate a big knockout moment. In fact, Logan Paul even said prior to the fight he was comfortable fighting Mayweather because he's not traditionally a knockout guy.
Ultimately, you can believe what you want about the fight and Mayweather’s intentions. Logan Paul was elated to have lasted every round with Mayweather and clearly sees it as a victory. Mayweather was clearly in it for the money and has been very open about how easy of a check it was to cash. I obviously wish there had been more action, but then again, I’m not sure what I expected watching a fight between a social media star and a retired boxer who is significantly smaller. Now, if Mayweather had stepped in the ring with Logan's far more outspoken brother who is interested in a long-term career in boxing and isn't particularly well-liked by boxer, then who knows? Maybe next time.
