The original Floyd Mayweather Jr.-John Gotti III exhibition bout in June 2023 ended in a no contest due to excessive trash talk followed by a massive brawl.
Now, as the two prepare for a rematch this weekend in Mexico City, and live on DAZN, Gotti III sat down with DAZN and tried to pinpoint the genesis of when that brawl sparked.
"Well, I think personally from the beginning, tensions were high to begin with with me and Floyd," Gotti III began explaining. "He had a lot of negative energy coming into the fight as did I. He started the trash talking right away in the very beginning of the fight and when I was on the defensive for the first four rounds, I was kind of taking it a little bit.
"And as I started getting comfortable in the fight, I started delivering the trash talk back," he continued. "From there, it just got really out of hand. I guess, had I laid down and showed my belly and submitted to him, they would have let him trash talk all night. But the fact that I gave it back suddenly became a problem and the referee warned us in the fifth round, going into the sixth round. One warning, though — he didn't give us numerous warnings. We clinched up, we said a few words and he called the fight."
Shortly after the referee called the bout, a wild brawl between both fighters' teams ensued as the ring filled up.
Looking back, Gotti III feels like he was "robbed."
"I was annoyed, I felt like I was getting comfortable in the fight at that point and I was in the fight," he said. "I started getting my second wind and I felt like they robbed me of my best rounds so I just went on a motion."
Gotti III vows that he and Mayweather will pick up where they left off with their gloves.
He said: "We're going to be after each other from the opening bell."
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