Floyd Mayweather Jr. returns to the ring on May 14 in the main event of The Global Titans Fight Series in an eight-round exhibition bout against the undefeated “Dangerous” Don Moore. The pay-per-view event will occur outdoors in Dubai, with the ring sitting on the helipad at the Burj Al Arab Hotel. For fans of the UFC and those watching the UFC odds, former middleweight champion Anderson Silva will also be in boxing action, taking on Bruno Machado.
Mayweather will be fighting for the first time since his exhibition against Logan Paul last June, in a fight that went the distance. No winner was declared in that fight. He retired undefeated in 2017 at 50-0 in his last official boxing match against Conor McGregor.
Moore is No Pushover
This time around, Mayweather will be fighting a legitimate boxer. Moore is a former sparring partner of Mayweather’s and enters this bout against the Hall of Famer with an 18-0-1 record and 12 knockouts. It’s unclear whether the fight will be judged and a winner declared.
Moore was trained by Roger Mayweather in the past and thinks he’ll have an edge in the fight because he’s familiar with Floyd. However, Mayweather has said that he can’t take Moore lightly and thinks he’ll come into the contest with something to prove. “On top of this fight being at a one-of-a-kind venue, you’re going to see a guy coming in to take his shot at the best ever,” said Mayweather.
Silva Returns to the Square Circle
Anderson Silva is a UFC legend and returns to the ring for the first time since September when he knocked out Tito Ortiz. In his previous fight, he earned a split-decision vs. Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. His opponent, Machado, is also a former MMA fighter and has won six straight boxing matches. The match will also be an eight-round exhibition, with both fighters required to be at 194 pounds.
At 46, Silva is almost twice the age of his 24-year-old opponent and has just two wins in the boxing ring. He ended his 22-year career in the UFC after losing three straight bouts in October 2020. He only won one match in nine fights from 2013 to 2020 but will still go down as the greatest fighter ever in the UFC’s middleweight division and one of the overall best competitors in the history of MMA.
Mayweather Enjoys Entertaining His Fans
Since retiring from boxing, Mayweather has continued to entertain boxing fans. As the champion in five different weight classes with 12 title belts and an undefeated record, he is the CEO of Mayweather Promotions.
He has also taken part in a couple of exhibitions that were pay-per-view blockbusters. In 2018, he traveled to Japan and fought professional kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa, and his 2021 showdown against Logan Paul drew around one million buys on Showtime pay-per-view.
While promoting this weekend’s event in Nigeria, Mayweather met with presidential candidate Rotimi Amaechi and discussed his goal of having a boxing academy in the country. He made his final preparations for the fight while training at the Kamani Club and met with Badou Jack, who will fight during this weekend’s event versus Hany Atiyo. Jack also fought on the undercard of Mayweather’s exhibition vs. Logan Paul and is signed by Mayweather Promotions.
Floyd is recently celebrating his $42,500 win while betting on Dmitry Bivol, who upset Canelo Alvarez last Saturday night in their light-heavyweight. Bivol was an underdog at +425 and dominated the entire fight, winning 115-113 on all three scorecards.
However, most observers say the fight wasn’t as close as the score indicated. Canelo and Bivol will fight in a rematch that has yet to be scheduled.
Mayweather’s wager on Bivol was small compared to his typical wagers, which indicates he may not have had as much faith in Bivol winning as he should have. Maybe Mayweather will show fans some excitement against Moore in their upcoming matchup and treat it as an actual fight. After his battle against Paul, he stated that he would have won by a knockout if it were a real fight. Maybe things will get real on Saturday.
