メイウェザー敵前逃亡! 12・31RIZIN那須川天心戦白紙に!!

 やはり、というべきか。RIZINのロゴ入りグローブを着用した写真を削除して不安を呼んでいたフロイド・メイウェザーjr. が、12・31RIZINでの神童・那須川天心との試合を行わないと自身のInstagramで一方的に発表した。
 メイウェザーは、中止の原因は「事前に聞いていた内容と違う、公式戦を行わされる事になったため」と主張。その通りとすれば、「日本の今後のビジネスの為の『お仕事』」としての打ち合わせでやって来たメイウェザーと、不意打ちでリングに引っ張り上げてガチで闘わせようとしたRIZIN側との間で齟齬が生じた形。
 あるいは、エキジビジョンのつもりでやってきてアントニオ・猪木に(判定引き分けとの結末の約束は守りながらも)本気のスライディングキックで蹴りまくられ、後々選手生命を縮めたモハメド・アリの轍を踏むまいというメイウェザーの防衛本能が働いたか。
 いずれにせよ一度は発表された大一番に、半信半疑とはいえ大いに湧いた日本の格闘技ファンとしては納得のいくものではなく、今後メイウェザーの日本におけるビジネスに大きな影響が残る事は間違いない。

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Now that I am back on U.S. soil after a long and disappointing trip to Tokyo, I now have the time to address you, my fans and the media in regard to the upcoming event on December 31st that was recently announced. First and foremost, I want it to be clear that I, Floyd Mayweather, never agreed to an official bout with Tenshin Nasukawa. In fact (with all due respect) I have never heard of him until this recent trip to Japan. Ultimately, I was asked to participate in a 9 minute exhibition of 3 rounds with an opponent selected by the "Rizen Fighting Federation". What I was originally informed of by Brent Johnson of "One Entertainment" was that this was to be an exhibition put on for a small group of wealthy spectators for a very large fee. This exhibition was previously arranged as a "Special Bout" purely for entertainment purposes with no intentions of being represented as an official fight card nor televised worldwide. Once I arrived to the press conference, my team and I were completely derailed by the new direction this event was going and we should have put a stop to it immediately. I want to sincerely apologize to my fans for the very misleading information that was announced during this press conference and I can assure you that I too was completely blindsided by the arrangements that were being made without my consent nor approval. For the sake of the several fans and attendees that flew in from all parts of the world to attend this past press conference, I was hesitant to create a huge disturbance by combating what was being said and for that I am truly sorry. I am a retired boxer that earns an unprecedented amount of money, globally, for appearances, speaking engagements and occasional small exhibitions.

Floyd Mayweatherさん(@floydmayweather)がシェアした投稿 –

『週刊ファイト11月15日号』にて独自の視点と最長不倒の情報量で続報収録!!