Floyd Mayweather’s planned exhibition bout on May 14 in Dubai does still appear to be on, and is now being advertised as the “world’s first NFT pay-per-view event.”
The 45-year-old Mayweather, who last had a sanctioned bout in 2017 when he stopped UFC superstar Conor McGregor in McGregor’s pro boxing debut, has done a few exhibitions — probably more than have been widely advertised — since his official retirement, including a knockout of kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa at the end of 2018 in Japan, and last year’s Showtime pay-per-view display with Logan Paul.
This fight is taking place on a hotel roof helipad, which is apparently extremely interesting to some people for some reason.
The card will also feature MMA legend Anderson Silva (3-1, 2 KO in boxing) taking little advantage of his 2021 wins over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and Tito Ortiz by facing fellow Brazilian MMA veteran Bruno Machado, and also Badou Jack (25-3-3, 15 KO) taking on Hany Atiyo (16-4, 12 KO) in a cruiserweight bout.
A rematch between Delfine Persoon (46-3, 19 KO) and Maiva Hamadouche (22-2, 18 KO) is also reportedly set, which would be the only actual good fight on the card.
Ryan Ford (17-7, 12 KO) vs Bilal Laggoune (25-3-2, 14 KO) is also listed on some posters and not others and whatever, this is obviously a very professional organized event.
Mayweather’s dance partner will be “Dangerous” Don Moore, a Gary, Ind., native who went 18-0-1 (12 KO) in a career of club fights that spanned 1999-2016 without ever facing a single opponent who had a winning record coming in.
If nothing else, be happy for Don Moore, who gets to do something pretty cool, something he can tell a lot of stories about the rest of his life.