Mikuru Asakura tried to get Floyd Mayweather to agree to MMA gloves

Floyd Mayweather and Mikuru Asakura were both present at RIZIN Hawaii’s press conference. On September 25 at Saitama Super Arena, they will square off in “Super” RIZIN. The Japanese mixed martial artist challenged the legendary boxer to test himself boxing with MMA gloves.

The press conference was organized to hype up the public for RIZIN 38 and “Super” RIZIN. The announcement that RIZIN would have an event in Hawaii in 2023 was made in front of MMA legends BJ Penn and Enson Inoue – both hailing from Hawaii.

UFC has had ‘trouble’ organizing events from Hawaii, despite pleads from Max Holloway and others they’ve stayed away due to huge fees they would owe to the Hawaii tourism board; not to mention that White believes that Hawaii doesn’t have a big enough venue to hold that big of a crowd.

The third and last segment of the press conference saw a verbal exchange between Asakura and the famous boxer.

Asakura mentioned the following in the introduction:

“Hello, this is Mirai Asakura. On September 25th, I would like to give Mayweather a strong punch in the face.”

The two then responded to questions from the media, with Mayweather saying that he would want to attempt to amuse the audience:

“I’ve been to Japan many times. There’s great entertainment. I want to put on a fight that everyone can really enjoy. I did it last time. This time I got a great chance. I’ll do my best. I heard that Asakura is the best fighter in Japan, but Mayweather is also the best fighter in the United States.”

Mayweather mentioned Ren Hiramoto as his translator, which caused the press conference to take an unexpected turn. The current RIZIN cast member and former kickboxer translated Mayweather’s remarks into Japanese.

Asakura gave Mayweather a surprise of his own when he pointed to RIZIN’s glove with the open fingers and said:

“I’ll give you an open finger glove as a gift, so use that glove. If you’re confident that you can do it, let’s do it on the day of the match.”

It’s interesting that the unbeaten boxer said he’s willing to switch to MMA:

“From what I can tell if RIZIN wants me to do MMA… I always practice both very hard. I’m doing it and I’m ready to do it, it’s no different than when I fought Conor McGregor… This time it’s only been decided that we’ll be fighting in boxing.”

The bout will serve as the main event of the “Super” RIZIN event on September 25. On ABEMA TV, RIZIN 38 and “Super” RIZIN will both be offered as Pay-Per-View events.