Floyd Mayweather announced first-ever UK fight but opponent backs down due to injury
January 20,2023
It’s hard to believe that during his impressive boxing career, Floyd Mayweather never fought inside the United Kingdom. He aims to change that during his exhibition bouts as a retired fighter with an announced fight at the O2 arena in London next month. Floyd just announced the fight would take place against retired British kickboxing legend Liam Harrison. This is the annoucement Mayweather posted on his Instagram account: “London February 25th, It’s official. My first exhibition fight in the UK will be at the O2 Arena. Tickets go on sale next week. Stay Tuned
Harrison pulls out six hours after the announcement
But only six hours after Floyd’s announcement, Liam Harrison put out the following statement through his Instagram account: “Many of you will have seen the announcement this morning about my fight against Floyd Mayweather. Devastatingly, my knee just won’t allow it. Discussions about the fight started a few days ago with the Mayweather team and I honestly thought I would be ok in a boxing fight, even with needing surgery on my knee. I upped my training as soon as discussions started and had some hard sparring and pads but almost immediately my knee had ballooned up and I can’t walk. Hitting pads is fine but the movement and agility needed to spar and especially fight just isn’t possible
My surgeon is in agreement that this won’t be possible and I am absolutely heart broken. This fight and everything that would have come with it would have changed my life. Furthermore, no contract for this had been received or signed. I’m exclusively contracted to ONE and I had approached them for permission and sign off. Without receipt of the contract and ONE’s review and approval of this, nothing was confirmed. Floyd is the greatest boxer of all time and I would have wanted to put in a good account of myself. Not just for me but for the whole muaythai community. I’m seriously flattered to have even be approached for this fight and I really think I could have done well in it. But, as things stand, I’m going to have to stick to my surgery next week. I really hope when I’m recovered we can make this fight happen
After this announcement from Harrison, it’s safe to say that he missed the train on a fight that would’ve potentially changed his life. Mayweather still seems set to fight in London in February but his team is now looking for a potential opponent. There aren’t any big names attatched to the bout yet but we will report any as soon as they appear. Since Harrison made his statement, Floyd removed the poster he promoted and hasn’t made any comments about the incident
