What Floyd Mayweather says, goes.
The legendary boxer was back in the ring Saturday night for an exhibition match against John Gotti III — the grandson of the notorious crime boss — in the Arena CDMX in Mexico City.
In the second round, Gotti complained about a punch from Mayweather, and referee Hector Afu paused the fight to penalize Mayweather for an illegal punch to the back of Gotti’s head.
On replay, however, it looked to be a legal right hook.
Mayweather was outraged by the call, and even pushed Afu lightly with his right hand.
Mayweather then began motioning to Afu to get out of the ring, and appeared to say “move” and “shut up” while yelling at him and to people outside the ring.
Eventually, Afu exited the ring and a new referee entered.
The fight then resumed with the new referee.
The bout, a rematch of their disastrous first fight, was organized by Mayweather Promotions, which Mayweather owns.
There were no judges and no official decision since it was an exhibition, though Mayweather largely got the better of Gotti in what was lackluster showing that left fans booing by the end.
Mayweather did not address the referee swap in his post-fight interview.
During their first meeting in June 2023, Gotti was disqualified for excessive holding and trash talk.
Gotti then proceeded to spark a brawl inside the ring.
There wasn’t any melee Saturday night.
Mayweather, 47, last fought a professional bout in 2017 and retired with a perfect 50-0 record.
After the bout, Mayweather dismissed a potential exhibition against the 62-year-old Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., who was there as part of DAZN’s broadcast team.
“He’s one of the legends I look up to and he paved the way for me,’’ Mayweather said. “He’s older now, and if I do an exhibition with him it’s not going to look good for me.”
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