Floyd Mayweather Jr akhirnya angkat bicara soal kabar pertarungan dengan kickboxer Jepang, Tenshin Nasukawa .
Seperti diketahui, Floyd Mayweather Jr dikabarkan akan bertarung dengan Tenshin Nasukawa di Saitama Super Arena, Tokyo, Jepang, pada 31 Desember 2018.
Floyd Mayweather Jr bahkan sudah menghadiri jumpa pers di Jepang bersama promotor MMA Jepang, Rizin, dan Tenshin Nasukawa , pada Senin (5/11/2018).
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Namun, setelah kembali ke Amerika Serikat, Mayweather mengklarifikasi jika dirinya tidak pernah menyetujui pertarungan formal dengan Tenshin.
Dirinya hanya setuju untuk melakoni pertarungan ekshibisi kecil yang hanya dihadiri oleh sekelompok kecil penonton.
Lewat akun Instagram miliknya, Mayweather menjelaskan apa yang sebenarnya terjadi.
View this post on Instagram
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 regard 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. 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.
A post shared by Floyd Mayweather (@floydmayweather) on Nov 7, 2018 at 10:53am PST
Mantan juara dunia tinju dalam lima divisi itu bahkan mengaku ditipu oleh Rizin selaku promoto MMA di Jepang.
Berikut bunyi pernyataan Mayweather soal kabar duel dengan Tenshin:
Sekarang saya telah kembali ke AS setelah perjalanan yang panjang dan mengecewakan ke Tokyo, sekarang saya punya waktu untuk berbicara kepada Anda, penggemar saya, dan media terkait dengan acara yang akan datang pada 31 Desember yang baru-baru ini diumumkan.