It’s that time again — time for the Floyd Mayweather Exhibition Tour™ to hit it’s next stop, this time touching down in the FLA Live Arena, outside of Miami, Fla., with a new dance partner whose main notoriety is that he is the scion of infamous mobster, John Gotti.
TONIGHT (Sun., June 11, 2023) — starting at roughly 9 p.m. ET — this boxing and bare-knuckle-boxing card also features a name very familiar to the denizens of this particular mixed martial arts (MMA) site, former Bellator Middleweight champion and BareKnuckle FC Cruiserweight champion, Hector “Lightning” Lombard, who will be in the aforementioned bare-knucks match.
All the action will be streamed live on the Zeus network. Bet on boxing at DraftKings Sportsbook.
But, let’s start with the main event. Floyd needs no introduction. Winner, champ, undefeated, etc. He’s fighting John Gotti III. To be completely fair to the man, he’s spent the past six years racking up a completely respectable burgeoning combat sports career, with an MMA record of 5-1 and a boxing record of 2-0.
In other words, he’s not some gym bum or a tough guy at a bar.
It goes without saying he’s not Floyd Mayweather Jr., but who is? Even at his (professionally) advanced age, he’s still one of the slickest boxers to ever do it, and while age is undefeated, so far it hasn’t caught up to the man in charge of The Money Team.
One other big name on the card many people might recognize on this card is Jarrell Miller. It is fair to call Miller one of the biggest “what ifs” in boxing. Miller infamously failed multiple drug tests prior to a unification bout with Anthony Joshua back in 2019. In a face palm-worthy moment, he then failed another drug test the following year and was suspended until 2022. The 26-0-1 Heavyweight is an enormous favorite over Antonio Zepeda.
Floyd Mayweather vs John Gotti III final faceoff #mayweathergotti pic.twitter.com/4tzESQIYHw
— BroBible (@BroBible) June 10, 2023
As mentioned earlier, somewhat representing MMA in this standup realm is the long-time contender, Hector Lombard. He’ll be taking on a relative neophyte, kickboxer Eric Turner.
Mayweather Vs. Gotti Quick Results:
Floyd Mayweather vs. John Gotti III — Exhibition ended early, no winner/loser — WATCH HIGHLIGHTS!
Ulysess Diaz vs. Khalas Karim — Exhibition went the distance, no winner/loser
Jarrell Miller vs. Antonio Zepeda — Exhibition went the distance, no winner/loser
Hector Lombard vs. Eric Turner (bareknuckle boxing) — Exhibition went the distance, no winner/loser
J’Hon Ingram vs. Ryan Allen — Exhibition went the distance, no winner/loser
Kamari Burnside def. Brendan Jackson — KO, Rd. 3
Mayweather Vs Gotti Play-By-Play Updates:
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. John Gotti III
Round 1: Finally, we’re about to get underway. Gotti in black and white, Floyd in the red, white and blue Philippines flag (a troll of Pacquiao?). All of the Mayweather hanger-ons are clustered outside the red corner, crowding the ring and delaying the fight. Now they’re moving around the ring, crowding the announce booth. Ridiculous.
Floyd aggressive to start. Head, body, body, head, body. Gotti not doing anything but covering up. Now he’s tossed out a jab. Floyd gives him room to throw a few things before taunting the Gotti fans in the stands as he punches John.
10-9 Mayweather
Round 2: Every time the JG3 supporters start cheering for their boy, Floyd looks at them and punches his opponent. They clinch and Floyd lands the best shot of the round with a phone-booth level uppercut. Gotti looking scared to be honest.
10-9 Mayweather
Round 3: Floyd trying to get Gotti out of his shell now, just holding his hands up at his head, hoping to have a better sparring partner out of this. Man, I don’t get why people who have done actual combat sports are scared of getting clobbered by someone who just seems to want a good workout. Clinch and some infighting, mostly holding by Gotti as Floyd thumps with whatever free hand he gets.
10-9 Mayweather
Round 4: Floyd taunting as per usual. Gotti throwing a little more this round, but still short about 80% of the traffic. Gotti with a rabbit punch, but also a couple of lefts that actually connect a little. Best round so far for the challenger.
10-9 Mayweather
Round 5: Gotti actually coming forward to start this round. Left-right and the right gets some contact. This is vaguely close to a competitive round here. Gotti hits a jab. Floyd with a left. Gotti taunting Floyd now, which is a little interesting.
10-9 Gotti, but that’s probably judging on a curve
Round 6: Gotti refuses to let go of a clinch, despite the ref telling them he’s gonna stop it, and well, the ref stops it. Neither man wants to stop boxing, so Gotti gets around referee Bayless, continuing the fight. But as it’s over, this causes both corners to storm the ring to break it up. Gotti’s corner is outnumbered about 40-3 here and they’re obviously cognizant of how bad this would go for them if all hell really does break loose. They get Gotti out of the ring and after some more shenanigans, they get his trainer and rest of the corner out, too.
Final result: Referee Kenny Bayless stops the fight at about a minute into round 6. No decision, obviously — HIGHLIGHTS!
Ulysess Diaz vs. Khalas Karim
Round 1: Karim in black and purple, Diaz in black and gold. Nice left hand by Karim. Right by Diaz. Karim throwing nearly entirely power shots. Right-left lands. Gets a couple to Diaz’s torso.
10-9 Diaz
Round 2: Diaz with a left, big left in return from Karim. He’s just bullying Diaz so far, although his chin is holding up well. Diaz lands to the body and a hook about ten seconds later. Much better second half for Diaz. Left at the bell.
10-9 Karim
Round 3: Karim with a big left directly on Diaz’s mouth. Uppercut gets in for “Uly”. Karim to the liver, Diaz to the chin.
10-9 Karim
Round 4: Karim to the body, eats a jab. Diaz moving forward now. His footwork isn’t good at all, but he’s still closing the distance and making Karim fight off the back foot. Lefts by both men. Right by Karim as Diaz lands a left. Solid left hook in between the action lands clean for Diaz.
10-9 Diaz
Round 5: Both men get in body shots. Karim seemed to get upset by that liver shot and stormed forward with a couple big shots. Cut on the eyebrow of “Monster” Diaz. Diaz a bit wobbly. We pause in the action and the ref really pauses it to let the doctor look at the cut. Doc lets it go. Karim landing solid.
10-9 Karim
Round 6: They’re going a little lighter this round, as Diaz doesn’t seem to have the power to harm Karim and Karim seems uninterested in taking out Diaz. They’re still landing and getting in shots, but this is more exhibition now than rough and tumble fight. Couple of good punches from both men as the round comes to a close.
10-9 Karim
Round 7: Both men are a bit lower on gas now and still look to be leaning towards the friendlier side of a contest. Occasional pot-shots landing here and there.
10-9 Karim
Round 8: Diaz still working forward. There’s a nice left hand. Karim responds with one of his own. Diaz tosses out a left-right. Rights land for both men. Karim now responding a bit heavy. Lefts by both men.
10-9 Diaz
Final result: This exhibition bout had no scoring, so no official winner or loser.
Jarrell Miller vs. Antonio Zepeda
Round 1: Miller in blue, Zepeda in white. Miller looking a bit jumbo tonight, flicking out a feinting jab repeatedly. Zepeda circling and keeping on his bike. Nothing really happening in this short, two-minute round.
10-9 Miller
Round 2: Decent right hand by Miller as Zepeda is overly respectful of the power of Miller here. The announcers noting Miller weights north of 330 lbs. tonight, which is... a lot. Zepeda hits to the body, gets countered.
10-9 Miller
Round 3: Miller showing complete disdain for anything Zepeda attempts, and with good reason - he’s not putting any heat into what little he throws. Zepeda keeps ducking into the left arm of Miller. Couple of nice body shots from Miller.
10-9 Miller
Round 4: Still a lot of movement from Zepeda, nothing clean landed by either man. Jarrell lands a couple of right hands. Pretty much a waste of 8 minutes of ringtime.
Final result: This exhibition bout had no scoring, so no official winner or loser.
Hector Lombard vs Eric Turner in a 4 round bare knuckle fight pic.twitter.com/VgaqH3LY0S
— New Era Prep (@EraPrep) June 12, 2023
For more on “Mayweather vs. Gotti” and other boxing-related events, click here.
