Just days after Floyd Mayweather announced that his 51st professional boxing fight would be against Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa the American has posted on social media claiming he never agreed to the fight.
Earlier this week Mayweather surprised everyone by announcing that he would come out of retirement once again to fight on December 31st in Japan.
On Wednesday he took to Instagram to insist he'd never actually agreed to the fight, despite a press conference to announce in, and claimed that it had all been a misunderstanding.
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Posting on social media the 41 year old, with a professional record of 50-0, said:
"Now that I am back on U.S. soil after a long and disappointing trip to Tokyo, I now have the time to address you, my fans and the media in regards to the upcoming event on December 31st that was recently announced.
"First and foremost, I want it to be clear that I, Floyd Mayweather, never agreed to an official bout with Tenshin Nasukawa. In fact (with all due respect) I have never heard of him until this recent trip to Japan.
"Ultimately, I was asked to participate in a 9 minute exhibition of 3 rounds with an opponent selected by the "Rizen Fighting Federation". What I was originally informed of by Brent Johnson of "One Entertainment" was that this was to be an exhibition put on for a small group of wealthy spectators for a very large fee. This exhibition was previously arranged as a "Special Bout" purely for entertainment purposes with no intentions of being represented as an official fight card nor televised worldwide.
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"Once I arrived to the press conference, my team and I were completely derailed by the new direction this event was going and we should have put a stop to it immediately. I want to sincerely apologize to my fans for the very misleading information that was announced during this press conference and I can assure you that I too was completely blindsided by the arrangements that were being made without my consent nor approval.
"For the sake of the several fans and attendees that flew in from all parts of the world to attend this past press conference, I was hesitant to create a huge disturbance by combating what was being said and for that I am truly sorry. I am a retired boxer that earns an unprecedented amount of money, globally, for appearances, speaking engagements and occasional small exhibitions."
The whole situation is very bizarre and Mayweather's comments at the press conference to announce the fight very much sounded like someone aware what was going on.
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In fact the former five weight world champion said at the time, "I wanted to do something different.
"I wanted to display my skills outside the U.S. and be in a special fight. I want to give the people what they want -- blood, sweat and tears."
What happens next we can't be sure of but Mayweather did seem pretty intent on coming out of retirement when he bumped into Manny Pacquiao earlier in the year.
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Who will Mayweather fight next?
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Boxing News, Floyd Mayweather