Hours after Floyd Mayweather Jnr’s fight with YouTuber Logan Paul on February 20 was put on hold, the retired boxer (50-0) explained the postponement before calling out Paul’s brother, Jake, and renowned rapper 50 Cent.
Organisers confirmed on Tuesday that a Mayweather vs Paul exhibition – originally scheduled for under three weeks away – would be postponed indefinitely with rumours of lack of attention generated over the New Year.
The 43-year-old Mayweather, who has come out of retirement for crossover exhibitions with UFC star Conor McGregor in 2017 and young Japanese kick-boxer Tenshin Nasukawa in 2018, took to social media to lay out his plans for the year and ignite a feud with Jake Paul.
Jake, 24, fought his second-ever amateur boxing bout last November in a second-round KO win over former NBA star Nate Robinson and is scheduled to fight retired MMA fighter Ben Askren in April. His performance impressed many, McGregor and Mike Tyson included, though he and his brother are heavy underdogs should they match up with “Money”.
“This year I will focus on several exhibitions,” Mayweather said on Instagram alongside a mock fight poster of him and Jake.
“I will have an exhibition in Tokyo, Japan again. Of course the one with Logan Paul and I; and if Jake Paul can get past his next opponent Ben Askren, I will have an exhibition with him as well.
“I also heard that 50 Cent would fight me but claims I’m too small. If he wants to lace up at the end of the year, we can do an exhibition then.
“I don’t care about weight class with any of these guys. The Paul brothers will make great money with the events, but with 50 Cent it has to be ‘Winner Take All’.”
Jake, notorious for his online trolling and recent trash-talking call-outs of McGregor and teammate Dillon Danis, posted a response video reading aloud a poem by a fireplace.
“Dear Mr Mayweather, who runs your Instagram? They need to get paid better. Do us a favour and stay off of social media. You should focus on learning to read, retirement or maybe an encyclopaedia,” he said.
“You call me out to fight, but you’re half my height. You might beat my brother but Jake Paul is a different type. [Expletive] your proposition, I don’t do exhibitions. We can fight on my conditions, 50-50 commissions.
“Oh, and we haven’t forgotten you tried training Nate to beat me. I left him unconscious on the canvas, let’s hope you’re not that easy. A quick NBA knockout, he’s never boxing again. … After I KO Askren on Triller April 17, I would love to fight you Floyd and punch you in those fake, veneer-a** teeth.”
Mayweather soon posted a screenshot of a news article about him helping Jake train for his then-rumoured fight with fellow YouTube personality KSI, who beat Logan via unanimous decision in 2019.
“Jake Paul is talking about he don’t do exhibitions, them two [expletive] boxing matches he had were exhibitions. They were not against real professional boxers.”