Floyd Mayweather finishes Tenshin Nasukawa in first round

Floyd Mayweather was paid $9 million to beat up a non-boxer who is significantly smaller than him

That's what makes him the most intelligent businessman in combat sports history. Nobody knew what to expect when Mayweather agreed to a bizarre exhibition match against undefeated kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa. There were silly rumours that Mayweather would throw the bout because it would not count on his pristine professional record but it would make himself appear beatable for his next outing, which could well be a rematch with Manny Pacquiao. Some suggested that he wasn't taking it seriously and would just coast through the nine minutes and leave Tokyo with a cheque for $9 million dollars, having provided some shine to Nasukawa. https://twitter.com/AdamCatterall/status/1079750902616072192 But no. Floyd was not prepared to mess about on New Year's Eve because he held nothing back when the action finally got underway following some absurdly long entrances and introductions. 'Money' just laughed at the attempted punches from Nasukawa and dropped the Japanese youngster on three occasions in the opening round, forcing Nasukawa's corner to throw in the towel after just two minutes in the Saitama Super Arena. With Kenny Bayless in the ring, a ludicrous size advantage and the rules favouring Mayweather, there was no way that Floyd was going to lose Monday's exhibition fight. As for RIZIN, their publicity stunt couldn't have gone worse because while they got a record number of curious viewers tuning in to one fight, one of the promotion's most treasured prospects was made to look foolish in front of their biggest ever audience. It was surreal, to say the least.