Floyd Mayweather suggests he is returning to the ring in 2020, and is set to meet with the Japanese MMA firm Rizin
- Floyd Mayweather has suggested that fans could see him box again.
- The American retired from fighting after his landmark crossover bout against the former two-weight UFC champion Conor McGregor in 2017.
- Since then, he took part in an exhibition with the young Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa for the MMA firm Rizin.
- On Instagram, Mayweather, dressed in Japanese TMT-branded clothes, said he was set to fly back to Tokyo to speak to Rizin "for something this year."
Floyd Mayweather has suggested he is returning to the ring in 2020, and is set to meet with the Japanese MMA firm Rizin.
Mayweather has worked with Rizin before as he took part in an exhibition bout against the then 20-year-old kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa on a New Year's Eve show in 2018, stopping the Japanese fighter in the first round.
As the bout was an exhibition, it did not count on either fighter's professional record, yet it still earned Mayweather $9 million, according to Forbes.
Mayweather enjoyed the experience so much he said in 2019 that he wanted to fight six exhibitions that year, expecting to earn approximately $80 million, Insider previously reported.
Wearing TMT-branded clothes which featured the Japanese flag, Mayweather said Thursday on Instagram that he was getting ready to fly to Tokyo for talks with Rizin.
"Soon I'm going to hop on my jet to Tokyo, Japan for a meeting with my partners and Rizin for something this year 2020," he said. "Stay tuned."
In the video, Mayweather is shadow-boxing. The suggestion is that he could take part in another exhibition for the Rizin brand.
Rizin has only been able to hold one event in 2020, "Rizin 21 — Hamamatsu" in February, as the onset of the coronavirus pandemic forced the company to postpone shows.
It has two events planned this summer, on August 9 and August 10, both of which will take place in Yokohama.
The health crisis caused by the virus, together with the deaths of his uncle Roger Mayweather and former partner Josie Harris, changed Mayweather's plans, too.
With a croaky-voice, he posted an emotional video about how the coronavirus has affected him, and showed videos of him training young athletes at his Mayweather Boxing Club in Las Vegas.
He has also been seen coaching the 21-year-old lightweight champion Devin Haney, saying he wants to maximize the potential of young, Black fighters.
Mayweather has spoken about fighting one more time and even said in June that if Conor McGregor wanted to do it all again, having beaten the former two-weight UFC champion in 2017, then he'd happily "punish" him again in a rematch.
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