Mayweather exhibition fight to take place at Yas

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UAE - Yas Island’s Etihad Arena will host a rescheduled fight night featuring combat sports legends, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Anderson Silva, at the purpose-built facility on Saturday.

Undefeated boxing star Mayweather will take on former sparring partner ‘Dangerous’ Don Moore in an exhibition bout that was originally billed to take place at the iconic Burj Al Arab helipad in Dubai.

The event, which was called off due to the passing of the late His Highness The President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on May 13, will now take place at the same venue on October 15, organisers Global Titans announced on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Saturday’s YAS Island fight card will also see MMA legend Anderson Silva square off against UAE-based Brazilian Bruno Machado in an MMA exhibition bout, while former two-division titlist Badou Jack (25-3-3, 15KOs) retains his place on the show as well, when he fights Egyptian Hany Atiyo.

This will mark the third exhibition bout for Mayweather, who was last seen giving YouTube sensation Logan Paul a boxing lesson last June, having earlier destroyed Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa by TKO in just two minutes, in December 2018.

“Money” Mayweather, who retired in 2018 after outclassing UFC cross-over star Conor McGregor, has posted pictures of himself shopping at the gold souk and sightseeing in the UAE ahead of Saturday’s fight.

“Even in retirement, I’m still able to milk the game of boxing, continuing to make eight figures or more,” he wrote on his Instagram page (@floydmayweather).

“I will continue to do exhibition bouts making tons of money and people from all around the world will continue to pay because my hustle is just different.”