BREAKING: Floyd Mayweather to face Roger Federer at UFC 248
BOXING legend Floyd Mayweather Jr has confirmed he will come out of retirement in 2020 to fight tennis star Roger Federer in a three round exhibition at UFC 248 next March.
Mayweather, 42, announced on Instagram earlier this week that he would return to fighting in 2020, after first posting a photo of him and UFC President Dana White sitting courtside at the Clippers/Celtics game, claiming the pair were working on a 'spectacular event' in 2020.
The highest paid boxer of all time teased a similar comeback last year, that turned out to be a three-round boxing exhibition against 125lb, 20-year-old kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in Japan, which Mayweather won by a predictable landslide.
But nobody expected this: a mixed martial arts bout with perhaps the greatest tennis player ever, Roger Federer.
The fight will apparently be under modified rules: Federer cannot use his trusty Wilson Pro Staff racket, 6oz gloves must be worn and no takedowns, leg kicks or backhands will be allowed.
The Swiss maestro, winner of 20 slams in his illustrious tennis career, told reporters he is thrilled to be involved in the exhibition:
"It's a bit of fun. I like what Floyd's done in the last few years; I wish I could play one tennis exhibition a year against a cricket player for $300million instead of beating the world's best week in, week out like when I was 24.
"Anyway, I'd rather be punched in the face a few hundred times than play Rafa [Nadal] or Novak [Djokovic] again."
Mayweather, however, subject to criticism for deciding to fight a 38-year-old tennis player with no ring experience, was quick to defend himself:
"Look, he's a great champion, I'm a great champion. Neither of us have fought in the octagon before, so I see it as a 50/50 fight. Name anybody else that's challenged the great Roger Federer to a fight. You can't, because only Floyd Mayweather would do that. That's why I'm the best.
Mayweather claims he is set to earn $500million for the fight and made $50million just for mentioning it.
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