“Are you in a boxing gym or a kickboxing gym?”
Floyd Mayweather did not take kindly to one reporter’s question about why kicks would not be allowed in his upcoming exhibition bout against undefeated kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa.
The rules for the contest were confirmed this week and, unsurprisingly, it will be no more than a short exhibition match under straight boxing rules.
Mayweather will be paid handsomely for the three three-minute rounds he will put in against Nasukawa but kicks were never going to be allowed.
Mayweather, being a master of making headlines, played up the potential for a mixed rules fight when it was initially announced but he now insists that he was only ever going to box his Japanese opponent.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. was not pleased when I asked him why not allow kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa to kickbox in their New Year’s Eve fight? @News3LV pic.twitter.com/InbOg5Ww79
— Amber Renee Dixon (@Amber_R_Dixon) December 7, 2018
The 41-year-old got rather defensive at a media day to promote the match-up on Thursday, when a reporter asked why ‘Money’ had denied Nasukawa the right to use kicks.
“Am I a kickboxer or am I a boxer? Are you in a boxing gym or a kickboxing gym?” Mayweather responded.
“You see a lot of bullshit on Instagram.
“I’m going to say this once again. Everything is always on my terms. I am the A-side always. I am not going to fight in a MMA ring and if I do fight in a MMA ring, it’s boxing only.”
