Floyd Mayweather will come out of retirement later this year to make a return to fighting.
The 41-year-old former professional boxer who won all 50 of his boxing fights including his infamous match against Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao has joined Japan based MMA company Rizin FF and Floyd will face off against Tenshin Nasukawa, the 20-year-old undefeated champion on New Year’s Eve.
The fight will take place at Saitama Super Arena in Japan, the fourth largest indoor arena in the world with the capacity to hold a maximum of 36,500 people.
The announcement was made at a press conference in Tokyo. On the move to MMA fighting, Floyd said, “It wasn’t easy to make this happen…but we told the people anything is possible, so now we’re here and we want to make sure that we give the people in Tokyo what they want to see: blood, sweat and tears.”
The conference did not reveal the logistics of the fight or what weight class Floyd will fall under. On the lack of information provided on the rules of the fight and weight, Mayweather said, “We’ll talk about that, we’ll get that situated within the next couple weeks, As far as the weight class, we’re not really worried about that. When it’s all said and done, it’s all about me going out there and displaying my skills against another skilful fighter.”
Floyd’s opponent, Tenshin Nasukawa specialises in kickbox style fighting and the young athlete has won all 27 of his kickboxing fights. On his opponent, Floyd offered praise, saying, “This kid right here is very, very special. He’s powerful, he’s fast, he’s strong. “
This MMA fight will mark the first for Mayweather since his 2017 fight against Irish MMA and UFC fighter Conor McGregor.