By Allan Fox: Floyd Mayweather Jr was forced to go the full eight-round distance against YouTuber Logan Paul in a fight that had no winner in their exhibition match on Sunday night at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
Logan’s huge frame and weight advantage seemed to be the difference in keeping him from getting totally dominated. He was able to soak up punishment well without getting hurt.
At the same time, Logan did a fair initiation of Wladimir Klitschko by throwing jabs and then tying Mayweather up when he came in punching range. If Logan had used his jab a little more, he might have dominated the 44-year-old Mayweather.
Given the rules of the exhibition, there were no scoring, no judges, and no winner. This writer had Mayweather edging it by activity, and being the better-conditioned fighter of the two.
Logan, 26, looked like he was in need of oxygen with the way he was gasping for breath, turning red in the face, and holding nonstop.
“@FloydMayweather it’s an honor.”@LoganPaul was hyped after surviving 8 rounds. #MayweatherPaul pic.twitter.com/wGNbYmlSk0
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) June 7, 2021
I speak for everyone by saying that the referee gave Logan a huge break by not penalizing him for his holding. But even if he did take points, Mayweather still wouldn’t have won under the rules of the fight. You could only win by knockout.
Like in his pro debut two years ago in 2019, Logan gassed out after two rounds, and spent much of the time holding Mayweather from rounds 3 through 8.
The final punch stats saw Mayweather connecting on 43 of 107 shots for a 40% connect rate. For his part, Logan landed 28 of 217 shots for an anemic 13% connect rate.
What we don’t know is whether Mayweather was intentionally carrying Logan to make sure the fight went the full eight. It looked that way to this writer, as Mayweather seemed like he was in first gear all night, and only rarely shifting into second gear.
In the third, Mayweather was landing well and appeared that he was trying to take the much larger Logan out. But the lack of size and power just kept Mayweather from getting him out of there. Of course, we’re assuming that Mayweather didn’t intentionally back to make sure that Logan saw the final belt.
.@FloydMayweather had fun 🙌 #MayweatherPaul pic.twitter.com/uUwkabMtNO
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) June 7, 2021
With this fight out of the way, Mayweather said he’ll “probably” fight Logan’s younger brother Jake Paul next. Mayweather is going to need to be a lot better against Jake because that guy can really punch, and he’s an excellent counter puncher.
Mayweather would have a lot to worry about against Jake because he hits with massive power with either hand. Mayweather couldn’t just focus on neutralizing Jake’s right hand because his left hook is just as dangerous.