YouTube Sensation Logan Paul Lasts 8 Rounds With Faded Legend Mayweather

The most anticipated boxing exhibition, perhaps in history, took place tonight at the in Gardens, Florida. YouTube sensation Logan Paul surprisingly took the 50-0, 12-time, five-division boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather the distance in an eight-round exhibition. The brave YouTube star stepped to the 44-year-old retired Mayweather in the opening round ending the first round with a flurry at the end of the round, not many if any landed. The 26-year-old Paul intelligently used his size advantage on Mayweather, at times like a weighted blanket. Mayweather was able to counter punch the bigger Paul and landed a strong left hook in round four that seemed to show flashes of the Floyd Mayweather of old. There were times it looked as if the Champ was going to kick it up a notch and take out the younger Paul, but the young Maverick survived the biggest night of his life. At the end of the day, it was about entertainment, and the crowd, although a bit disappointed they did not see a knockout, they did witness the greatest boxer of our era for perhaps the final time in a big-time boxing event.

FLOYD MAYWEATHER“He was strong, tough and better than I thought he was. I was surprised by him tonight. That was some good little work.

“Even without much experience, he knew to use his weight to tie me up tonight.

“I had fun tonight. I thank all the fans who came out, you’re all unbelievable.” LOGAN PAUL“I don’t want anyone to tell me anything is impossible ever again. The fact that I got in here with one of the greatest boxers of all time, it proves the odds can be beat. Anyone can beat the odds and do great things in life. This is one of the greatest nights of my life, I’m happy.

“It’s an honor to share the ring with Floyd. He’s one of the GOATs. This is one of the coolest things ever.”

Badou Jack KO’s Late Replacement Colina in Four

Light heavyweight Badou Jack 24-3-3 (14KO) dropped Dervin Colina 15-1(13KO) 3 times in the fourth round to secure a KO win. Jack was dominant from the opening bell, starting unusually fast, letting his hands go. Colina often held and was deducted 2 points for holding to avoid the attack from Jack. Colina was a late replacement after Jean Pascal tested positive for a number of banned substances, perhaps Jack’s unusual early aggression was frustration stemming from Pascal’s positive tests, in which he was very vocally upset on social media.

Badou Jack

On the Jean Pacal rematch falling out…

“People can say it’s bad luck but this is all from God. And I just have to be patient. This is God’s plan.

“The game plan was just to outbox him. Everything else will come. Definitely, hit the body. He was a little soft in the body but give him respect. He came out on short notice. He was supposed to fight next week but this is a different level.

“My goal is to become a three-division world champion. I walk around very heavy. I’m about to be 38 this year and I don’t like to cut weight so I’ll get with my team and see what’s next.

“He was trying to hold a lot and survive. I fight better when I fight better opponents. I was a little sloppy. The world class fights are when I perform the best.” Luis Arias Upsets Jarrett Hurd in the Rain in Miami

In a thrilling junior middleweight battle, Luis Arias fought the fight of his life with a hard-earned split decision victory over former unified 154-pound champion Jarrett Hurd 24-2(16KO). Arias 19-2-1(9KO) started fast and very aggressive from the opening bell, often landing an overhand right while coming forward. Arias baited Hurd into an early inside brawl when midway through the second round a torrential Miami downpour halted the action when Arias slipped on the wet CashApp logo in the center of the ring. The rain slowed and Arias went right back to work coming after Hurd mauling with overhand rights. Hurd had his moments in the middle rounds while taking a lot of shots himself. In a wild 9th round after another rain clean-up, Hurd scored a knockdown, however, it was a slip from the wet canvas. Arias went on to potentially win the 9th round. Arias came forward in the final round looking to take Hurd out, both fighters took several shots including a big shot from Hurd at the final bell that appeared to drop Arias. The official cards read 95-94 Hurd, 97-93 Arias 96-93 Arias. 15Rounds.com scored 97-92 Arias.

Luis Arias

“I came in here and challenged the No. 1 guy at 154 pounds and we fought somewhere halfway and I was able to edge a decision. Props to Jarrett Hurd. You fought a great fight. Honestly, you could have had me out of there. I was definitely buzzed. If you would have found a way, I definitely would have gone down.

“He is a great fighter and like I told him afterwards, he came in here and fought his heart out. He definitely should have taken more time off with what he was dealing with outside of the ring.

“We’re here. I never quit on myself. People close to me were telling me to get a job and quit boxing. I just beat a former champion. Don’t ever give up on yourself. “I would like to thank Ismael Salas as well. I came to him semi-late. About six or seven weeks and I needed to change something in my game plan to beat Jarrett. The things I was doing before would have gotten me a loss tonight. I needed somebody to just tweak a little bit and put my game up a little bit so I could beat this champion. Jarrett is a hell of a fighter and he’s not done.

“My key to victory was staying confident. Staying confident and sticking to the game plan. Knowing I’m the better fighter. Knowing I’m in better shape and I hit harder. I’m a better boxer and my defense is better. I’m better than him and I just proved it.

“The game plan was to jump on him, get the early lead and keep it. I felt like in the middle rounds I was wining the fight but you never know because I wasn’t the A-side in this fight. I buzzed him a lot especially on the inside. If we were fighting at 154, he would have gotten knocked out. Everybody knows it.

“I’ve been around the Charlos. They are great champions. I’m not going to sit here and call out [Jermell] Charlo. I have to earn my stripes. Had I beat Hurd at 154, maybe I could mention him. But I can’t. The goal is to go down to 154 pounds and fight a former challenger.”

Jarrett Hurd

“I’m not sure what went wrong tonight. I believe I won the fight. I had a knockdown. I could make a hundred excuses but it wasn’t a great performance.

“The plan coming out in the first round was to box. I wasn’t as confident in my feet as the rain came down, so I had to go toe-to-toe more. That wasn’t really what we trained for, so I was a bit sloppy.

“I’ll take the rematch at whatever weight. I know I’m the better man.”

Chad Johnson dropped in Exhibition

Six-time NFL Pro Bowler Chad “Ocho Cinco” Johnson showed up, and showed out in his hometown of Miami in a four-round battle with MMA and bare-knuckle veteran Brian Maxwell. The southpaw “Ocho Cinco” got off to a good start showing his boxing skills with footwork, athleticism, catching Maxwell with right hooks, and occasional straight left hands while avoiding Maxwell’s attack, most of the early rounds. The fight turned scrappy at times with Maxwell from Roanoke, VA who holds a combined record of 2-6 in MMA and Bareknuckle saw an opportunity to take his idol down. Maxwell kept pressing and caught Johnson relaxing a bit in the final round and dropped the former Pro Bowler Johnson who got up to see the final bell. 15Rounds.com scored the fight 38-37 Maxwell. The fight was declared a Spirited Exhibition by ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr.

Johnson has been training in the offseason since high school and held his camp for this fight with the Charlo Brothers in Houston. Johnson said afterward he was happy to “Get this off of his bucket list” and “I am ready for Conor”.

Brian Maxwell

“Ask the world who Brian Maxwell is now. Brain Maxwell is here. Thank you, Chad. It was an honor fighting my idol and I appreciate it.”

Chad Johnson

“I had fun. I had two months to get ready for this and I want to thank God for keeping us safe out there. I want to thank Floyd, Leonard Ellerbe and my whole team for allowing me to check this off my bucket list. My life has always been about taking chances and doing crazy stuff and this is just one off my bucket list. It’s a message for a lot of people who are scared to fail, scared to lose, scared to take chances to go out there and live. Don’t be scared to fail, it’s okay. I don’t box. I fight but it ain’t in the ring so of course I was a little sloppy.”

Mayweather Promotions Adrian Benton improved to 5-0 (3KO) with a unanimous decision win over the hard-charging Pedro Cruz 1-1(1KO) fighting out of San Jose California. Cruz came forward the whole fight and found early success, finding the swift-footed Benton in a competitive scrap. Benton started timing Cruz with counterpunching and angles, separating with the lead as the fight wore on. By the fourth round, Benton was having his way with Cruz, who never stopped coming forward. The cards read 40-36 thrice. I gave Cruz the second round.

Hard punching super lightweight Jean Carlos Torres 19-0 (15 KO) dropped Zack Kuhn 10-8-1 three times on his way to a destructive second-round knockout. A slow-starting first round quickly heated up when Torres started letting his hands go, dropping Kuhn twice in the first round. A ripping left hook from Torres immediately dropped Kuhn ending the fight at 41 of round two.

Highly decorated amateur and Mayweather Promotions rookie Jalil Hackett out of Washington D.C. took his talents to Miami, and made an impressive successful debut with an early first-round destruction over debuting Dallas, TX product Angelo Diaz. Hackett came out firing, hitting Diaz nearly at will, and finally dispensed Diaz in the corner with a slick hook and straight right hand resulting in a knockout win 1:10 of round one.

The Floyd Mayweather vs Logan Paul event kicked off with competitive as Buckeye, Arizona’s Dorian Mark Khan Jr 1-0 (1KO) who made his professional debut in hot Miami style with a TKO win over Jonathan Gray 0-4. The southpaw Kahn was sharpshooting from round one, and aggressively progressed through round two dropping the game Gray who, by advisement of his corner did not answer the bell through for the third round.