Mayweather Forced to Go the Distance on a Befittingly Wet Night in Miami

SHOWTIME was at an NFL stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida tonight soaking the suckers with the most disgraceful pay-per-view boxing show in the long history of the network. The fulcrum was an 8-round exhibition between Floyd Mayweather Jr and youtube star Logan Paul.

“I said I was retired from boxing, I didn’t say I was retired from making money,” said Mayweather who pre-fight characterized the exhibition as legalized bank robbery. Paul was 34 ½-pounds heavier than Floyd and 18 years younger, but the only question among knowledgeable fans was whether he would still be standing at the final bell. He made it, but had there been judges, Mayweather, despite giving away the first two rounds, would have been an easy winner.

Mayweather landed more punches and was fresher at the finish. However, the fact that he was unable to polish off the older and less athletic of the two Paul brothers did not reflect well on him, notwithstanding the fact that he has never been a knockout puncher. Paul, whose main asset was a good chin, exposed some erosion in Mayweather, inevitable in a 44-year-old man.

“He was better than I thought,” said Mayweather after the fight. “I had some fun though.”

Co-Feature

The co-feature between Badou Jack and Jean Pascal figured to steal the show. They fought in December of 2019 in Atlanta and Jack came out on the short end of a split decision in a very entertaining fight. Alas, Pascal failed his PED test and had to be scratched.

The matchmaker dredged up Dervin Colina to fill the void. A 33-year-old Venezuelan who has fought primarily in Columbia and now hangs his hat in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables, Colina was undefeated (15-0, 13 KOs) but against very suspect opposition and had no business in the same ring with Badou Jack (23-3-4), a veteran of eight world title fights.

Colina had a point deducted in round two and again in round three for holding and was knocked down three times in the fourth before the bout was halted. The final knockdown was caused by a body punch. Colina flopped to the canvas, rolled over on his back, and spit out his mouthpiece. According to CompuBox, he did not land a single jab and landed only one body punch during the course of the fight which was terminated at the 2:57 mark of round four. The bout was fought at the catch-weight of 177 pounds.

Hurd vs Arias

The first of the two legitimate fights was a 10-round middleweight contest pitting Luis Arias against former IBF/WBA 154-pound champion Jarrett Hurd. Arias (17-2-1) sprung a mild upset, winning a 10-round split decision that should have been unanimous. The scores were 97-93, 96-93, and 94-95.

This was the first fight in 16 months for Hurd (24-2) and his second camp with hot trainer Kay Koroma. His defense was shaky and Arias, who suffered a bad cut over his forehead in round two, out-hustled him, landing many more punches. Hurd was credited with a knockdown in round nine when Arias slipped on the wet canvas. It rained intermittently during the show and the rain came down particularly hard during this bout.

Milwaukee native Arias, a former stablemate of Andre Ward, was 0-2-1 in his last three heading in. This was his most impressive showing.

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