Boxing legend Mayweather officially confirmed he will be boxing YouTube celebrity Deji on November 13 in his third exhibition match. Following his victory against MMA pro Mikuru Asakura, Floyd Mayweather has wasted no time and is already back at it.
Mayweather retired from competitive boxing in 2017 after defeating UFC icon Conor McGregor. He has since earned tens of millions of dollars through entertaining exhibitions.
Before taking on YouTuber Logan Paul last year and his old sparring partner Don Moore in May, Mayweather knocked out Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa.
Although it was previously revealed that negotiations for a match between Mayweather and Deji were in progress, the exhibition’s November 13 date has now been made public. The event will be held in the Coca-Cola Arena, which has a capacity of 17,000 spectators. It is being organized by Global Titans Bout Series, which previously promoted Mayweather’s boxing bout with Moore.
Deji weighed in at 168.7lbs (76.5kg) for his last boxing date. Oddly there was no contracted weight limit for Mayweather’s exhibition against Asakura.
Deji remarked:
“Huge thanks to Global Titans and my team for creating this incredible opportunity. It’s a privilege to be headlining this phenomenal spectacle in Dubai, against the all-time great Floyd Mayweather. This is going to be fun!”
Mayweather said:
“I am delighted to bring this incredible boxing experience to Dubai. Global Titans will give fans an unrivalled boxing match with a huge undercard. It is an honor to be a part of such an iconic event in an iconic city, and I would like to thank the Global Titans team for reaching out to me and giving back so much to the sport I love.”
Deji, the brother of YouTuber KSI, defeated Yusef Erakat last month on the undercard of his brother’s event to earn his first boxing victory. Deji lost his first three bouts at the professional level. He was knocked out by Vinnie Hacker and Jake Paul in 2018 and 2021, respectively. He then lost his third this year against fellow YouTuber Alex Wassabi by a split decision.
Before the match was declared official, Mayweather confirmed the rumors by telling TMZ:
“I have an exhibition with a hell of a fighter from Japan. He’s big in [MMA] and he’s also big on YouTube. Then I have one with the guy Deji, we will be doing an exhibition in Dubai at the Coca-Cola Arena and that’s in November.”
After taking home between $15 and $20 million after his bout with Asukara, Mayweather is expected to get another multi-million dollar payday when he takes on Deji. The ring legend has said that he is currently just interested in appearing in exhibitions
KSI acknowledges that he would never have imagined that his brother, who lost his first three bouts, would face Mayweather. KSI says that he is really proud of him.
On his YouTube channel, KSI said,
“My man just leaped past all of them and went ‘yeah, I’m fighting Mayweather now’.”
“If he pulls this off then f*** me man, what is this world? What is this world? If you told me ten years ago, five years ago, two years ago that Deji was going to be fighting Mayweather I’d have laughed in your face. Mate, what a f***ing W.”