On the same day Jake Paul took Floyd Mayweather's hat in a childish prank during media commitments for his fight with Logan Paul in Miami, the legendary undefeated boxer was asked if he was going to train hard for the upcoming fight against the YouTube personality.
"No, not really. For this one, I've just got to stay in shape," Mayweather told The Athletic.
Throughout his career, Mayweather has cultivated a reputation for hard work with the boxing champion known for running the desert roads of Nevada during his many title defences. Yet in retirement, the undefeated boxing champion's penchant for the grind has understandably waned.
The 50-0 fighter raised eyebrows during his preparation for his exhibition against Conor McGregor in 2017, when the boxing master was spotted at his gentleman's club at 3am on the eve of the weigh-ins for the lucrative contest and was seen eating fast food at the beginning of fight week.
On New Year's eve 2018 the boxing legend agreed to fight Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa earning $9 million for a three round exhibition that barely lasted two minutes with the boxing great dropping him three times before the kickboxer's corner threw in the towel.
While the American kept himself in decent condition for the fight, there was no special training camp. He didn't even take the event seriously enough to arrive in Japan in advance to acclimatise to the local time zone and rocked up more than two hours late for the actual fight.
If Mayweather barely trained for McGregor, a two-weight UFC champion with some experience in boxing, then most would have to take the star on his word when he said he would barely raise a sweat in preparation for Logan Paul.
Although, that couldn't be further than the truth according to Mayweather's training partner.
Dennis Doughlin said the hat stealing episode has lit a fire under the boxing champ and he's training much harder than he did for the McGregor fight in 2017.
While Mayweather understands he barely needs a game plan for the YouTuber, the legendary fighter has stepped up his training purely to embarrass Logan Paul and his brother Jake.
"I think Floyd thought taking his hat was disrespectful and it looks like it has lit a fire under him from what I saw at the gym," Doughlin said. "I was very impressed. I think that had to do with the Paul brothers pissing him off.
"Floyd's one of the greatest in the world - but I didn't think that he was going to train intensely for this. But now they've pissed him off, so he's turning it up. What I saw today from Floyd was very impressive.
"I was blown away. I was kinda expecting him to do a cookie cutter workout, shadow box and spar someone really bad just to stay active. That's what I was expecting.
"But I came into the gym at around midnight and the energy and atmosphere in the gym felt like a real Mayweather fight. Floyd looked great, man - he didn't miss a beat.
"Still cocky, still having fun, still crafty - it was a real sight to see. Watching him get rounds of sparring, hitting the bag, on the pads - he had great energy. I learned a lot just watching that.
"Floyd was to be the best in the world and he retired. So while he's not taking this fight with Logan Paul as seriously as a real fight against Errol Spence for example, he's taking it as seriously as he needs to for what this fight is — which is for a kid who's a little bit crazy and disrespectful, who does not understand the craft of boxing.
"Floyd's going to teach him boxing's an art. It does not matter if you're bigger than me, or stronger than me because I have boxing skill. Floyd is one of the best technicians in the sport and I feel Floyd is taking that seriously.
"He has a need to show this kid boxing is about skills and not just a fight - it's a science. 100 percent he's going to make him pay."
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from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/news/boxing-news-floyd-mayweather-training-hard-ahead-of-logan-paul-fight/0e6d5135-94d4-40d6-94db-961858a44ddd
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