Business Insider

Floyd Mayweather says he's going to fight again in July, and it could be the first of five events this year

Tenshin Nasukawa cries in defeat to Floyd Mayweather
Floyd Mayweather beat Tenshin Nasukawa inside a round on December 31 in Japan. Photo by Etsuo Hara/Getty Images
Read in app

Floyd Mayweather says he will return to Japan for another exhibition fight in July.

Mayweather, 41, retired from professional boxing after his 10th round stoppage victory against the UFC fighter Conor McGregor in 2017.

He has since been linked with a swansong in the UFC, in a deal that could reportedly generate billions, but preferred to contest an unofficial exhibition against Tenshin Nasukawa two months ago.

He beat the promising Japanese kickboxer Nasukawa at a December 31 show in Saitama, Japan, winning comfortably after three knockdowns in the first round.

Read more: Floyd Mayweather's fight against Tenshin Nasukawa was 'fake,' according to a former UFC heavyweight

The American banked approximately $9 million for the fight, and it has seemingly whet his appetite for a return as he told TMZ Sports this week that he has another planned in July, with the prospect of more throughout the year.

"I got exhibitions… I got another one in Japan in July," he said, adding it will be a three round fight worth $10 million.

The exhibition would be fought using boxing rules, "always my rules," Mayweather said, and could lead to "four or five" more throughout the rest of the year earning him $80 million.

It is unclear who the July opponent would be, but Mayweather said he is Japanese and a former boxer.

Read next

Alan Dawson is Insider's combat sports correspondent. He moved to Las Vegas indefinitely after being shortlisted twice for Sports Journalist of the Year in 2020. He has twice been credited by the Boxing Writer's Association of America, is a Hall of Fame voter, and an MMA Journalists Association member. He joined Insider in 2017 as a reporter, was promoted to senior reporter in 2019, and then again to a correspondent in 2020, after establishing Insider Inc. as one of the best independent publications to follow in the fight sports industries. He is read by millions of people around the world every month. He has investigated the intersection of organized crime and boxing, uncovered possible bribery in sport, and has been ringside for some of the most iconic moments in combat sports including Fury-Wilder 2, Khabib Nurmagomedov's retirement, and Davis-Garcia. He has taken assignments in Europe, the Middle East, and across the U.S., and was one of the few credentialed reporters to cover the UFC during the pandemic era of sports when the company held MMA events behind-closed-doors in a bubble environment on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. Dawson has been featured on Morning Kombat on Showtime, on BBC and GB News in the UK, and The Sun in Ireland. His work has been cited by CNN, The Telegraph, Forbes, USA Today, IB Times, Boxing Scene, World Boxing News, Sherdog, Bloody Elbow, The Sun, The Mirror, and Metro, as well as national media in Finland, Ukraine, Russia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam. Follow him on Twitter at @alandawsonsport.