Miami (AFP)

It was a bit of two "freaks" in Miami: ex-ring star Floyd Mayweather logically dominated YouTuber Jake Paul but didn't knock him out as everyone expected, Sunday in Miami, in what was a poor exhibition fight.

Unbeaten in 50 official fights, Mayweather was not named the winner, under a gruesque rule also authorizing KO.

Penalty that he could not inflict on his young opponent of 26 years, quite happy to have held on his two legs until the end of the eight rounds.

You had to see him wear his smirk behind the dentures, and dare to do the famous crank arm dear to Mohamed Ali, when he was doing the show.

Better than them for sure.

After two rounds without bothering to throw more than three punches at Paul, who on the contrary threw himself on him, especially during the last ten seconds of the first round by striking right lefts blocked by his gloves, Mayweather finally started the fight.

His left hooks and right jab stings hit his young opponent quite easily, much taller and heavier, and making him 18 years old.

In the end, 40% of the hits sent found their target, against 13% for Paul.

In this fight, in which the two often clashed, Mayweather looked a bit like a cat playing with a ball.

And logically, the idea was not to end it but to make the pleasure last, to the chagrin of the spectators of a Hard Rock Stadium which was otherwise well empty.

- "I had fun" -

"It is one of the greatest moments of my life. I am happy. It was an honor to enter the ring with him", reacted hotly Paul who was all the same on the verge of the collapse of fatigue at the end of the 5th round.

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Couldn't he or wanted to put an end to the Youtuber?

"He was a lot better than I thought he would be," Mayweather assured after the fact.

Paul, who has more than 23 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, correctly predicted in the week that he would emerge a winner in this clash, no matter what.

"If I win, it will be the biggest surprise in the history of combat sports. If Mayweather wins, nobody cares. Well done, my brother, you will have beaten a YouTuber," he summed up.

The latter considered that this clash "was like a training session, really".

"Going the distance was a victory for him. I had fun, too. When the money comes in, we'll see who's the winner."

In the case, except on the financial aspect - the two men should indeed receive a tidy sum resulting from the broadcast of the fight in pay-per-view at the price of 49.99 dollars (41.3 euros) -, Mayweather, who said he would "probably no longer exhibit", appears neither a winner nor a grown up.

As for boxing, it will have to recover from an evening that is anything but unforgettable.

© 2021 AFP