Mayweather defeats scion of mafia boss

MEXICO CITY (AFP) — Former world boxing champion Floyd Mayweather outclassed John Gotti III, the grandson of the late New York mafia boss, in an exhibition bout on Saturday, but the crowd in Mexico City was not impressed.

Mayweather, 47, retired from boxing in 2017. He was undefeated for 50 fights, but he continues to fight in fights that do not count toward his career record.

The 31-year-old Gotti, who had a 5-1 record in MMA fighting before switching to boxing, is the grandson of John Gotti, the head of the Gambino crime family who died in prison in 2002.

Mayweather has also fought reality TV stars and YouTube fighters in some of his exhibition bouts.

He dominated Gotti from start to finish, despite the confusion when a bell failed to sound for the end of the round and when the referee left the ring midway through the match. The eight-round match consisted of two-minute rounds with two-minute rest periods.

Gotti, the first to enter the ring in an arena packed with over 22,000 spectators, showed little effort during the fight, earning him the scorn of the crowd.

Mayweather threw rights to Gotti’s head in the first round, with Gotti limiting himself to controlling the punishment.

After two minutes there was some confusion as the bell did not ring and the fight continued until complaints came from Gotti.

There was further confusion in the second round when, after a banned punch from Mayweather, Panamanian referee Hector Afu left the ring, apparently irritated by Mayweather’s actions.

Then Mexican referee Alfredo Uruzquieta took over.

Mayweather easily dodged Gotti in the third round and went wild on his rival, having him against the ropes.