Floyd Mayweather ended what turned into a shootout in the second round of his three-round exhibition by stopping Japanese mixed martial artist Mikuru Asakura late in that round on Sunday in Saitama, Japan.
Mayweather, 45, dropped Asakura just before the bell rang to end the second round. He tried to get up, but the southpaw couldn’t beat referee Kenny Bayless’s count before he reached 10.
Mayweather won in the main event of a Rizin pay-per-view show at Saitama Super Arena.
Asakura, 30, who is 16-3 in MMA fighting, did compete in a boxing match, albeit an exhibition, for the first time.
Mayweather was in complete control of the second round until Asakura hit Mayweather with a right hook with just over 45 seconds left in the second round. Asakura landed to the left several seconds later, causing Mayweather to smile at him as he backed away.
Bayless warned Mayweather for a cheap shot with just under 20 seconds remaining in the second round.
Mayweather then landed two right hands as the second round drew to a close. Another right hand from Mayweather dropped Asakura to the canvas and rolled just before the bell rang to end the second round.
Asakura struggled to her feet as Bayless counted. Bayless counted to 10 just as Asakura got up from the canvas and the American referee signaled the end of the action.
A straight right hand from Mayweather landed with exactly one minute remaining in the second round.
Mayweather lunged forward and caught Asakura with a right hand with 1:50 remaining in the second round. He also hit Asakura with a right hand to the body just after the middle of the second round.
Mayweather nailed Asakura with a right hand 40 seconds into the second round.
Mayweather went on the offensive in the last minute of the first round. However, he had a hard time catching Asakura with clean punches and seemed to lose control.
Asakura pushed Mayweather back against the ropes with just over 1:20 left in the first round, but Mayweather blocked his punches. Asakura landed a hard left hand to the body just under a minute into the first round, which emerged as .
Manny Pacquiao, the retired legend who lost to Mayweather in the most lucrative boxing event in the sport’s history seven years ago, attended the show. The Philippines’ Pacquiao, who will also participate in exhibitions, walked to the ring and addressed the crowd before Mayweather faced Asakura.
His display headlined a mostly mixed martial arts event Sunday afternoon at an arena north of Tokyo. It aired as a Saturday night pay-per-view main event in the United States.
Mayweather, who resides in the Las Vegas area, was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in June. He finished his 21-year professional boxing career undefeated (50-0, 27 KOs), won world titles in five divisions and made more money than anyone in the history of the sport.
Although Mayweather won, Asakura outlasted Mayweather’s previous opponent in Japan.
The Grand Rapids, Michigan native needed less than three minutes to knock out Tenshin Nasukawa in an exhibition that was scheduled for three rounds in December 2018. Mayweather floored Nasukawa, who was much smaller than Mayweather, three times in the first assault before their fight. he was detained in Saitama Super Arena.
Mayweather’s win against Asakura was his fourth in showing since retiring from professional boxing after knocking out UFC superstar Conor McGregor in the 10th round in a 12-round, 154-pound boxing match in August 2017 at the T -Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Mayweather hasn’t fought an experienced fighter in seven years, not since he outpointed former WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto in September 2015 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
In the exhibition fight before Mayweather’s victory, the superstar’s bodyguard, Ray Vinci Sadeghi, was knocked down twice early in the third round of their boxing match and stopped by Kouzi Tanaka, a 33-year-old kickboxer.
Japan’s Tanaka caught Sadeghi, a native Iranian who goes by the nickname “Jizzy Mack,” with a left hook just five seconds into the third round. Sadeghi, 40, went down but turned around, answered the count and tried to fight his way out of trouble.
Tanaka hit him with another left hook that caused him to trip and fall face first to the mat 50 seconds into the third round. Their scheduled three round bout was stopped as soon as Sadeghi went down a second time.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
