Floyd Mayweather Scores TKO Of Deji In Exhibition
After five two-minute rounds of clowning around, throwing half-hearted punches, playing to the crowd and even taking a couple of shots, Hall of Famer Floyd Mayweather turned up the heat and stopped YouTube personality turned boxer Deji Olantunji in the sixth round of an exhibition bout on Sunday at Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Mayweather weighed 154.3 pounds against the 175.25 pounds Deji, but the weight disparity made no difference.
Mayweather landed seemingly whenever he wanted in the glorified sparring session that he surely could have ended whenever he wanted. But because it was an exhibition, he very obviously was not going all out. He rarely targeted Deji’s head with anything serious, landed soft jabs and tapped him repeatedly to the body.
In the fourth round, Mayweather forced Deji to a corner and landed a few shots — though very obviously not at full steam — and took a warning for a low blow from referee Kenny Bayless.
Deji landed at least one decent shot that raised some mild swelling under Mayweather’s left eye.
“I’m glad he landed a good shot,” Mayweather said as he stood with Deji in the ring after the fight. “This is part of fighting. This is part of entertainment. People want to see entertainment and fun and that’s what we both gave them tonight.”
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In the sixth round, Mayweather apparently felt as though he had put on a long enough show and stepped it up.
Once again Mayweather forced Deji (1-0, 1 KO), 25, of England, who has boxed between super middleweight and heavyweight between his pro and few amateur bouts, to the ropes and began to land what seemed to be bigger punches than previously in the fight. He landed about 10 unanswered shots and as Deji covered up in a corner, Bayless stopped it with 45 seconds left in the sixth.
Deji hung tough until the stoppage
“I couldn’t do this without my dancing partner,” Mayweather said. “Deji, you a tough competitor. I’m proud of you. Keep up the great work. Your brother, KSI, he’s a hell of a fighter also. I want him to keep up the great work.”
Deji, the younger brother of fellow social media influencer/boxer KSI, said he was disappointed the fight was halted.
“It was an early stoppage. I wanted to carry on. I feel good, honestly,” Deji said.
The bout was the fifth exhibition Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs), 45, of Las Vegas, has partaken in since retiring following a 10th-round knockout of UFC star Conor McGregor in 2017 and it came less than two months after he knocked out two-division MMA champion Mikuru Asakura in the second round of a three-round exhibition at 155 pounds on Sept. 24 in Saitama, Japan.
