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By: Hans Themistode
With Floyd Mayweather considered as one of the greatest fighters of all time and Logan Paul considered as one of the best social media stars in the world, many believed it was virtually impossible for their exhibition to go the full eight-round distance. Yet, that is exactly what happened.
In front of roughly 30,000 fans at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida, both Mayweather and Paul went toe to toe. Leading into their matchup, the overwhelming thought process was that there was simply no way Paul would make it to the final bell. However, after doing just that, Paul has considered it a victory of sorts.
As fans have attempted to grasp how in the world Paul lasted 24 minutes with the greatest boxer of his generation, most have concluded that he actually didn’t. During an awkward sequence at the end of one of the earlier rounds, Mayweather landed a hard right hand. From there, Paul then went in to clench. Skeptics of that exact sequence have said that Paul was actually knocked out but held up by Mayweather. Well, according to Paul, that simply wasn’t the case.
“I’m seeing this narrative go around,” said Paul during a self-recorded video. “Where there’s this one part of the fight where Floyd punches me and I kind of leaned on him a little bit and it looks like I kind of went limp. People are trying to spin it and say that he knocked me out and caught me and kept me up to keep the fight going until the eighth round. Shut the f*ck up. Just shut the f*ck up.”
To further back Paul’s claim, Mayweather came out himself and admitted that although he attempted to score the stoppage, the size and weight disparity was a bit more difficult than he anticipated.
“He can grapple,” said Mayweather following their exhibition. “He’s very, very good at holding. When a guy over 200 something pounds is holding you, I’m trying my best. Even though I have a lot of experience but it’s hard to get a heavyweight off you. I fight at welterweight fighting a heavyweight.”
As highlighted by Mayweather, Paul spent long durations of their contest holding and burning the clock. Under normal circumstances, excessive holding would result in the referee taking points away. However, with no official winner announced, there was no opportunity to do so.
In the end, regardless of what most observers believed would happen, Paul simply wants everyone to give him a bit of credit. He may have been outboxed for the vast majority of their contest, but when it’s all said and done, he went the distance with one of the greatest boxers of all time.
“Stop trying to discredit what happened,” continued Paul. “Make no mistake, he got a lot of good punches in. There’s a couple photos where I got f*cked up in a couple shots. I didn’t know my face could make that shape but never rocked, never blacked out, never obviously got knocked out. He didn’t help me up, he tried to take me out and he couldn’t.”
