3 extraordinary details you may have missed from Floyd Mayweather’s fight with MMA star Mikuru Asakura

Mikuru Asakura landed a solid punch on Floyd Mayweather. Photo by Getty Images Floyd Mayweather, at age 45, returned to the ring Sunday and knocked out another opponent. MMA star Mikuru Asakura actually had some success earlier in the bout.

He even landed one of the crispest punches anybody has ever landed on the evasive American. Floyd Mayweather fought MMA star Mikuru Asakura in a boxing rules contest Sunday at a Rizin 38 show in Saitama, Japan. Highlights of Floyd Mayweather and Mikuru Asakura’s fight.

Photo by Getty ImagesIt was billed as an exhibition and wouldn’t, therefore, count as an official match on Floyd Mayweather or Mikuru Asakura’s pro record. The opening round was at best a feeling-out process and, at worst, entirely uneventful. However, there were moments in the second that showed it was anything but an exhibition.

Asakura began to increase the pressure in round two as the Rizin fighter whacked the visiting American with a punch so hard, so crisp, it will likely go down as one of the best shots ever landed on the evasive former boxing champion.  Asakura’s stunning shot came in the second round but it wasn’t the most decisive, as Mayweather went on to finish the Japanese fighter by knockout. Floyd Mayweather fought Mikuru Asakura in a highly-contested boxing exhibition.

Photo by Getty ImagesWhile charging forward, and with Mayweather in retreat, Asakura let his fists fly until a right cross hammered the 45-year-old flush on the face. It was an incredible shot made even more extraordinary given that Mayweather has rarely ever been hit like that. Watch it right here:—Attack On Rob🐺 (@RobbKnows) September 25, 2022It wasn’t just one shot, though, as there were a series of blows that seemed significant enough to trouble Mayweather at the time.

—RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) September 25, 2022Moments after hitting Mayweather cleanly, Asakura ended up on the floor. Mikuru Asakura got knocked down in round two. Photo by Getty ImagesMayweather closed the show with a buzzer-beating shot, which Asakura failed to get up from, so referee Kenny Bayless counted him out — Mayweather had won.

—RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) September 25, 2022Though Mayweather was the one with his hand raised, Asakura may have raised his profile for doing to the all-time great boxer what few people had ever done by punching him off-balance. Floyd Mayweather embraces Mikuru Asakura after beating him in round two. Photo by Getty ImagesAsakura’s shot caused Mayweather to stumble, and it looked as if it had landed with slightly more power it could have yielded a knockdown.

It is something that UFC star Conor McGregor and former eight-division world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao failed to do. One of the few opponents to have ever troubled Mayweather was Shane Mosley who, in the second round of a 2010 bout, hit Mayweather with a right hand that caused his knee to buckle. Mosley’s subsequent attack backed Mayweather to the ropes but, rather than finish him, Mayweather weathered the storm, rallied to win later rounds, and banked another win.

Asakura’s miracle shot was one of three details that fight fans may have missed if they had only seen a replay of Mayweather’s second-round knockout and little else. Floyd Mayweather in the Saitama, Japan, ring. Photo by Getty ImagesAnother notable moment from Mayweather’s involvement at the Rizin 38 event in Saitama included having flowers thrown on the floor in front of him in apparent disgust, rather than handed to him.

Earlier in the show, one of Mayweather’s main bodyguards, “Jizzy Mack,” was violently knocked out by a fighter considerably smaller than him. Before the opening bell had been rung to get the Mayweather vs. Asakura exhibition underway, there was a bizarre moment involving flowers — a pre-fight ritual in Japan.

Floyd Mayweather beat Mikuru Asakura. Photo by Getty ImagesA mystery man, who Fox Sports said was likely “an official dignitary of sorts,” entered the ring before the fight began to present flowers to Mayweather. However, rather than handing them to the boxer, he threw them on the floor.

The South China Morning Post later identified the mystery man as a politician called Takushi Okuno, who leads the Burdock Party. It appeared to cause embarrassment to the event organizer, Nobuyuki Sakakibara, and even prominent Japanese boxer Naoya Inoue. “Once again, I would like to take this opportunity to apologize from the bottom of my heart for letting a man of vulgar character enter the ring,” Sakakibara tweeted Sunday.

“I assure you that I will do my best not to let you do such a stupid act in the future. “—NOBUYUKI SAKAKIBARA (@nobu_sakakibara) September 25, 2022Inoue, one of boxing’s best athletes, was apologetic. “Mayweather who picked up the discarded bouquet was too cool,” Inoue tweeted.

“I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels like apologizing to Mayweather. “—井上尚弥 Naoya Inoue (@naoyainoue_410) September 25, 2022Mayweather is used to pre-fight shenanigans at his exhibitions. Floyd Mayweather and Jake Paul clashed ahead of the Logan Paul exhibition.

Photo by Getty ImagesIn the build-up to Mayweather’s 2021 exhibition with Logan Paul in Miami, which was broadcast as a Showtime pay-per-view in the US, Logan’s brother Jake Paul snatched the hat off of Mayweather’s head and said “Gotcha hat” before trying to run away. Mayweather fumed at the incident and stormed up and down the hallways at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, screaming: “I’ll kill that motherfucker. “Mayweather went on to box eight rounds with Logan, with both the Paul brothers claiming it was a victory in and of itself to go the distance with one of boxing’s best-ever fighters.

Despite the way he responded to Jake Paul, Mayweather was far cooler when the flowers were thrown at the ground in front of him Sunday, as he instead just picked them up and handed them to a member of staff at The Money Team. Another detail you may have missed from the Mayweather and Asakura event was the involvement of Jizzy Mack, one of Mayweather’s bodyguards, in a fight of his own. Kouzi KO’d Jizzy Mack.

Photo by RizinJizzy, also known as Ray Sadeghi, fought a kickboxer called Kouzi earlier in the show. Sadeghi outweighed Kouzi by a significant margin but appeared gassed after only two rounds. As soon as the third round began, he was in a lot of trouble as Kouzi sought the finish — and got it.

Watch Kouzi’s knockout win right here:—RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) September 25, 2022Mayweather watched Sadeghi’s fight with Kouzi while getting his hands wrapped backstage, ahead of his own bout with Asakura. The Rizin social media team were broadcasting his reaction, and he appeared unconcerned at the predicament Sadeghi found himself in when Kouzi finished him. —BOXRAW (@BOXRAW) September 25, 2022Sadeghi has been a member of The Money Team since 2013 and has tried to box in front of his boss Mayweather before.

However, he was beaten up in a sparring session broadcast on a Showtime: All Access episode ahead of Mayweather’s 2015 match against Andre Berto. Mayweather’s next exhibition opponent is YouTube creator Deji. Floyd Mayweather’s next opponent is reportedly Deji.

Photo by Getty ImagesFinishing Asakura was Mayweather’s second knockout win on the exhibition circuit in Japan. His next opponent is reportedly the creator Deji, who has boxed at a low level before at a “Social Gloves” event in 2021. Having previously taken part in an unofficial bout in Abu Dhabi, where he boxed his former sparring partner Don Moore, Mayweather will apparently return to the United Arab Emirates to fight Deji in Dubai later this year.

“We will be doing an exhibition in Dubai at the Coca-Cola Arena, that is in November,” Mayweather told TMZ Sports last week. Read the original article on Insider.