Paul Pogba among stars ringside as Floyd Mayweather fight descends into brawl

12 June 2023 , 07:17

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Paul Pogba among stars ringside as Floyd Mayweather fight descends into brawl

Paul Pogba was among the the celebrities in attendance as Floyd Mayweather returned to the ring for an exhibition fight which descended into an absurd brawl in Florida last night.

The footballer was spotted taking pictures with fans before heading to a VIP seat, but it is unclear whether he was caught up in the melee at ringside. He had been training in Miami and later headed to the event which took place at the FLA Live Arena. Pogba was joined at ringside by legendary heavyweight champion Larry Holmes as well as the pound-for-pound women's boxing great Claressa Shields among other big names in American television.

Until the main event, the night was relatively uneventful with a series of exhibition bouts filling time between musical performances from the likes of Blueface and Chrisean Rock. But things took a turn for the worst after Mayweather made his way to the ring, with the bout being controversially stopped in the sixth round.

Gotti had been badly exposed throughout the rounds by Mayweather, and was excessively holding and trash talking his rival in the ring. But referee Kenny Bayliss opted to stop the fight and disqualify the American, seemingly for little reason, leaving the New Yorker enraged.

And Gotti insisted on keeping the fight going, pushing forward and throwing punches at Mayweather before the ring was filled with team members from both sides for a brawl. Gotti's father and grandfather were both leaders of the infamous Gambino crime family, with his dad John Jr also sat at ringside.

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In a series of rare social media posts, Gotti has told Mayweather that the pair are "enemies for life". "Punk b****," he said while tagging Mayweather in footage from the melee. "You my enemy for life. [ Conor McGregor ], we need back up. Bum never put me down or stopped me it was a DQ for no reason."

It remains to be seen how bad the brawl was, but it saw fights break out in the ring, at ringside among teammates and between fans in the crowd. The arena was quickly cleared by local police, who threatened trespassing charges for anyone who stayed in the venue.

Donagh Corby