Floyd Mayweather next fight: Mikuru Asakura's brutal knockout remembered

Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather is set to make another return to boxing as prepares to take on former RIZIN featherweight champion Mikuru Asakura in Japan this September.

This will be the latest in a string of return fights for the undefeated Mayweather, who previously defeated RIZIN’s Tenshin Nasukawa in December of 2018.

Prior to that, Mayweather had defeated Conor McGregor in a box office smash of a fight in 2017, followed up by other exhibition fights, such as facing Logan Paul last year and former training partner Don Moore, who he went to a no-contest with last month.

This isn’t to say that the undefeated 45-year-old will have an easy time of it when he steps into a RIZIN ring once again, as his opponent has proven to be deadly opposition.

Asakura has won his last two fights via decision, but the last time he picked up a KO win was back in 2020 against Satoshi Yamasu. An absolutely monstrous left hand was backed up with a brutal kick to the head to secure the win.

The 29-year old Asakura is most well known as a Japanese mixed martial artist, and beyond his accomplishments as RIZIN’s featherweight champion, he has already achieved championship success in Fighting Network Rings in the 143-pound and 154-pound divisions.

With a career record of 16-3-1, Asakura doesn’t quite have the perfect record of Mayweather, but if the brutality shown in his last KO win is anything to go by, he could well provide the legendary boxer with trouble down the line. 

Or this could just potentially be the latest in a string of exhibition victories for one of the greatest of all time.

Only time will tell.