‘Blindsided’ Floyd Mayweather: I never agreed to fight Tenshin Nasukawa at Rizin 14

Bait and switch?

Retired boxing icon Floyd Mayweather Jr. is now back in the United States following a “disappointing” trip to Japan, where officials announced his participation in a “special rules” bout opposite rising kickboxing star, Tenshin Nasukawa.

I guess “Money” didn’t get the memo, based on his latest Instagram post.

I want it to be clear that I, Floyd Mayweather, never agreed to an official bout with Tenshin Nasukawa. Ultimately, I was asked to participate in a nine-minute exhibition of three rounds with an opponent selected by the “Rizin Fighting Federation.” What I was originally informed of by Brent Johnson of “One Entertainment” was that this was to be an exhibition put on for a small group of wealthy spectators for a very large fee.

Today’s revelation sounds a little strange when you consider all the pomp and circumstance during Mayweather’s recent visit overseas, which included hordes of local (and international) press and even pre-fight staredown pic.

It just wouldn’t be a Mayweather fight without some sort of hijinks.

This exhibition was previously arranged as a “Special Bout” purely for entertainment purposes with no intentions of being represented as an official fight card nor televised worldwide. Once I arrived to the press conference, my team and I were completely derailed by the new direction this event was going and we should have put a stop to it immediately. I want to sincerely apologize to my fans for the very misleading information that was announced during this press conference and I can assure you that I too was completely blindsided by the arrangements that were being made without my consent nor approval.

At least he got a free trip to Japan.

Mayweather insists he went along for the ride, simply because he didn’t want to make a big scene in front of all the people who were on hand to promote the Rizin 14 event, scheduled for Dec. 31, 2018 inside Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Rizin officials have yet to comment.