Floyd Mayweather Jr. is finally coming to Rizin to fight Tenshin Nasukawa and the rules for the exhibition bout has been officially announced.
Per a press release, the bout, set to take place at Rizin 14 on December 31 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, will be a boxing fight that will not count towards each fighter's pro records. The announcement came after weeks of uncertainty on if the fight would actually happen after an initial press conference was made in Japan.
Below are the rules for the exhibition fight between the two fighters:
- Three 3-minute rounds
- The bout will be contested under straight boxing rules
- Both will wear RIZIN 8-ounce gloves
- Weight will be set 147 lbs./67.7 kg. (Welterweight limit)
- There will be no judges to score the fight
- Fight will not count towards MMA or boxing records
Although it is an exhibition fight, it will be the first time Mayweather has stepped into the ring to box at an event since defeating Conor McGregor in a pay-per-view bout in Las Vegas in August 2017. Since then, Mayweather retired once again only to hint at another return to the ring a few months back. Mayweather met with former rival Manny Pacquiao back in September to talk about a potential rematch for 2019.
Mayweather spoke at a media workout at the Mayweather Boxing Club in Las Vegas and said he is excited to be able to entertain people in the exhibition bout.
"This is a great way for me to go out there and give people some entertainment. It's an exhibition match, but it's giving me a chance to do something different. I love competing against fighters from all walks of life like in my amateur days. It's all about entertainment. Nine minutes of entertainment. It's going to be amazing. I'm in the entertainment business. That's what I go out there to do. I love to do this. I'm working out to put on a show for three rounds," Mayweather said.
Nasukawa is an unbeaten MMA fighter and kickboxer and is the current RISE Kickboxing featherweight champion. Nasukawa is coming off a TKO win over Taiki Naito at RISE 129.
The fight was initially announced at a press conference in early November, but no rules were announced at the time. Mayweather initially backed out of the deal, citing communication issues that led him to believe he was fighting at a private event and not at Rizin 14, but now have seemingly worked out any issues and the fight is back on.
