Last Saturday’s exhibition between Floyd Mayweather and John Gotti III erupted into something else entirely when the two fighters clashed after the Gotti was disqualified for excessive holding/grabbing. With Mayweather completely outclassing Gotti throughout the fight without doing too much, Gotti reacted angrily after his disqualification which resulted in an intense brawl that saw dozens of people from the crowd enter the ring.
The fight was held on Sunday, March 11th in Sunrise, Florida. Renowned referee Kenny Bayless also participated in the match, and has so far refereed nearly every exhibition Floyd Mayweather has fought in. John Gotti III, grandson of the infamous John Gotti himself, faced Mayweather in the ring but found himself immediately outmatched by the former multi-division champion who was at least 16 years his senior when it came to age.
Though scheduled for 8 rounds, the exhibition never reached the full amount of rounds after John Gotti’s disqualification in the 6th. Prior to that decision, Gotti failed to truly impress as he neglected putting up an offensive as Floyd Mayweather tagged him through each round. Unable to deal with the defensive mastermind’s work ethic, defense and sharp sting of blows, Gotti’s frustration peaked in the 6th when he settled on holding Mayweather who dominated each round with pinpoint boxing as well as a bit of a showboating.
Reports also surfaced of excessive trash talking and abusive language by both fighters which largely led to Kenny Bayless making the decision he had.
Contrary to Bayless’ most recent controversial performance as a referee in the fight between David Benavidez and Caleb Plant, the referee seemed to have no patience for the excessive holding or grabbing by Gotti and stopped the fight in the 6th. With no judges present, Bayless’ decision would be ruled as final and Gotti was incensed by the decision which prompted him to lunge towards Floyd Mayweather.
Subsequently, the ring erupted into chaos as Mayweather and Gotti erupted into a brief exchange that saw Mayweather hit Gotti with a pinpoint right hook that forced the mob family scion on the retreat as dozens of those from the crowd entered on Floyd Mayweather’s behalf.
Despite no clear security present, John Gotti III was quickly escorted out of the arena as he faced an onslaught of Mayweather supporters hell-bent on getting to him. The post-fight brawl marred an exhibition which was meant to showcase Mayweather’s famed boxing skills. Mayweather has participated in exhibitions since retiring in 2017, but had yet to deal with anything such as was witnessed last Sunday.
Floyd Mayweather is still expected to continue on with his exhibition bouts despite the recent conflict with John Gotti III, though there will likely be more efforts on the part of him and/or the event organizers to prevent such events from occuring again.
