Watch: Japan's Mikuru Asakura prepares to fight Floyd Mayweather
Floyd Mayweather opponent Mikuru Asakura posted a video of himself training on Instagram ahead of their bout in September. Mayweather will face Asakura in an exhibition contest in Japan.
Watch Asakura train here:
The latest video Asakura has posted of himself training is on his Instagram Story and can be viewed here.
Mikuru Asakura is a Japanese mixed martial artist and is a former two-weight champion in Fighting Network Rings. The Japanese featherweight last fought on December 31, 2021. In that bout, he defeated Yutaka Saito via unanimous decision.
As well as his MMA career, Asakura is a YouTuber. The social media star has over 2 million subscribers on his YouTube channel which has over one billion views. Asakura is currently signed with Rizin.
Floyd Mayweather has fought on a Rizin show before; he faced Tenshin Nasukawa in 2018. Asakura competes at a much larger weight division (145lbs) than Nasukawa (125lbs).
Floyd Mayweather continues his exhibition career in Japan
Mayweather will have his second exhibition contest in Japan. 'Money's previous Japanese excursion against Tenshin Nasukawa filled the Saitama Super Arena and was successful commercially.
Mayweather reportedly made $88 million for the fight, which lasted around 2 minutes.The purse and details for the Asakura bout have not been revealed but are no doubt high enough to tempt the American to travel to Japan.
Whilst the details of the exhibition have not been revealed, it is most likely that they will be like Mayweather's last two exhibitions where they were unscored. Rizin will not want to have another one of their stars humilliated on the global stage.
The bout will be the second exhibition contest that Mayweather has competed in this year. In May, 'Money’ faced former sparring partner Don Moore in Abu Dhabi. Mayweather humiliated his opponent, mocking him throughout the contest en route to the fight going the distance.
Following the bout against Don Moore, Mayweather claimed that he would have another bout in the UAE this year. According to Mayweather, an opponent was secured and a fight in the UAE was set to take place.
Whether that opponent was Asakura remains to be seen. It would not be a huge surprise if Mayweather has another exhibition bout in the UAE this year. The exhibition contests don’t seem to take too much of a toll on Mayweather and he is happy to take part in them.
Watch Mayweather vs. Moore here: