Well, who would have thought it?
Floyd Mayweather, one of the greatest boxers of all-time, made light work of a complete and utter novice here on Sunday night in his first appearance since an equally straightforward triumph over a Japanese kickboxer in December 2018.
Logan Paul, of YouTube fame, is adept at being obnoxious yet throw him into a ring with a five weight world champion and, all of a sudden, the 26 year-old doesn’t look too clever or funny at all.
What a surprise.
Logan Paul caused a major shock by going the full distance against boxing legend Floyd Mayweather on Sunday night
The YouTuber was outclassed in the fight but stood his ground and showed a solid chin to take Mayweather’s best shots
Paul was over two stone heavier than Mayweather and used his weight by leaning on him to smother a lot of his work
The bare, predictable facts from a fight, if that’s the correct description for an evening which had the boxing purists frantically running for the hills, were Mayweather used all his experience and boxing genius to pick off a game yet totally outclassed opponent who should stick to singing songs and playing pranks.
With this event classed as an exhibition, there were no judges ringside yet if there had been, Mayweather would have run out an easy winner.
Time and time again, Mayweather sucked in his opponent before making him pay.
Paul, who now will hopefully leave boxing alone although fears he will darken the sport in the future sadly remain, was younger, taller and heavier than the American yet still predictably failed to trouble the Moneyman who showed welcome flashes of his genius.
Paul also used his jab well to keep Mayweather at bay with the boxing legend the aggressor for much of the fight
The two regularly got tangled up during the fight and had to be separated by the referee on Sunday night
All the pre-fight diatribe about Mayweather being knocked out while brazenly dismissing one of the most glittering CV’s in sport was shown up for what it really was – just pure and utter nonsense.
‘He was better than I thought he was,’ admitted Mayweather afterwards. ‘I had some fun though.’
To think there were people in amongst a healthy crowd here and watching from afar who actually thought Paul, with two fights to his name coming into this against a fellow YouTube sensation, actually had a slither of hope really is quite disconcerting.
There was more chance of a south Florida snow storm than seeing Mayweather tumble to defeat.
For the record, snow was seen once here back in 1977 and although it only lasted around 90 minutes, another freak blizzard is more likely than this serial chancer, or any other wannabe pugilist, making any seasoned, professional fighter look foolish in front of the sporting world.
Paul said he would attempt to make it competitive and some early flurries proved the man from Westlake, Ohio was true to his word.
With former heavyweight king Evander Holyfield ringside and a healthy crowd at the home of the Miami Dolphins, there was certainly a big fight feel here in south Florida no matter the fallacy of pitting a rookie against someone of the ilk of Mayweather.
Paul tried to let his hands go when they were in close but was made to miss by Mayweather more often than not
Mayweather cut a frustrated figure at times and stepped off the gas when he realised that the knockout wasn’t coming
That feeling dissipated once the action began in an encounter which was declared an exhibition rather than a fully licensed, professional bout and the only way to triumph was to stop or knock-out the opponent within the eight scheduled three minute rounds.
Mayweather, who weighed in at 155 lbs with his opponent tipping the scales at 189.5 lbs, skipped around in the opening exchanges, trying to lull his younger opponent into engaging before delivering a jab which rocked Paul’s head back.
Paul enjoyed some success towards the end of the first, a flurry of punches forcing Mayweather to frantically defend, something the Michigan native forged his career on.
By the third round, Paul looked fatigued as Mayweather began to pick him off with blows to the body before a left hook smashed through some non-existent defence.
As the bout wore on, Mayweather’s superiority was clear for all to see.
Logan’s brother Jake Paul, who has also ventured into boxing, was in attendance for the glitzy exhibition fight in Miami
Paul finished the fight with some marking around his face but won’t mind having survived the fight against Mayweather
The 26-year-old celebrated his moral victory by performing a handstand in the ring after the exhibition fight
Paul enjoyed some success in the fourth, connecting with a right hook to the head, yet the most venomous blows came from Mayweather, the pick of which was an uppercut at the end of the sixth as the man once known for giving CPR to a fish struggling to prove he wasn’t out of his depth.
‘This is crazy,’ said Paul while being introduced by the ring announcer.
That much was true yet this shouldn’t happen again.
Leave boxing to the professionals and internet tomfoolery to those who actually think it’s funny.
As Paul will surely testify, there is nothing humorous about being repeatedly punched in the head by one of the finest fighters in history.
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