Money Mayweather’s Asian Aspirations

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. announced at a press conference in Tokyo, Japan today, that he will fight Teshin Nasukawa on New Year’s Eve in Saitama. He signed a deal with Japan’s RIZIN Fighting Federation, a mixed martial arts promotions company. This will be the first time since 2005 that Mayweather has fought outside of Las Vegas.

Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) last fought Conor McGregor in August of 2017. There was talk that he might face McGregor again, or maybe have a rematch with Manny Pacquiao, or possibly even a bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov in an MMA fight.

Nasukawa is a MMA/kickboxing champion and is one of the most popular fighters in Japan. “Teppin” Teshin’s record as a kickboxer is 27-0, with 20 KOs. The twenty-one-year-old fighter is scheduled to take on Taiki Naito in a rematch later this month. Tenshin said of Mayweather, “Nobody has defeated my opponent in the past, and I’d like to be the man who makes history. My punch can change history, and I’ll show that to you so please stay tuned.”

According to Mayweather, he wants to continue to build his relationship with Money Team Tokyo. “I want to continue coming over here and bringing other fighters over here so my company can continue to grow and RIZIN can continue to grow. I would love to continue to work with RIZIN because RIZIN is an unbelievable company, and my company, we’ve been making some huge fights happen in the U.S., but we look forward to taking the Mayweather Promotions banner and the TMT banner worldwide. And if it takes working with a great guy like this, there’s no problem”, said Mayweather earlier at the press conference.

The fight was presented as a “Super Challenge” and the rules have not yet been established. They are also still negotiating the weight class. The event, RIZIN 14, will take place at the Saitama Super Arena. Mayweather and Nasukawa are scheduled to headline the event, additional bouts on the undercard have yet to been announced.

*ib.tv Press would like to state that, taking into account our working knowledge of Floyd, with no weight division established, no rules yet put in place, and the time frame presented, it is likely this fight does not happen on the given date.

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