John Gotti III issued a warning to Floyd Mayweather ahead of their August 24 exhibition on DAZN at Arena CDMX in Mexico City.
The fighters met in an unofficial bout last year, but referee Kenny Bayless waved the contest off in the sixth round. Gotti continued to throw shots at Mayweather after the bell. He said he was incensed that the boxing icon was trash-talking him so much when Gotti had idolized him so much growing up.
“I looked up to the guy my whole life as a fighter,” Gotti told World Boxing News on the Combat X show at Swerve Combat. “You don’t know how to prepare for a moment like that until you get in there.”
Gotti told us he was caught off guard by Mayweather’s antics. “I idolized [him], cheered for him. Now you’re in front of him, he’s trying to knock you out, taunting you. Cursing you. I took it to heart.
“To him, I’m just a random person. But to me, he’s been such a key part of my life. I wear my emotions on my sleeve. And I was invested in him. So things were just building.”
Gotti said the referee at the time, Kenny Bayless, “did a horrible job managing the fight.”
He said: “When Floyd was cursing me it was ok. But when I did it back, it became a problem.”
Gotti believes Bayless may have had it in for him from the start, as he entered his locker room ahead of that fight to tell him: “None of that UFC stuff.”
He also bemoaned the fact he could barely box in the clinch. “I didn’t clinch that much in the fight, and when I did I was very nice.
“Floyd sucker punched me numerous times in the clinch when I was trying to break. You can’t really use it [clinching] the way you want to use it. You got to understand, there’s an art of boxing clinching. Boxers master the art of clinching for boxing. MMA is a totally different world, you’re working underhooks, you’re working for takedowns. It’s an art on both ends.”
This time, he said, it’ll be different.
“Now, I know what to expect,” said Gotti.
“He’s an opponent, not Floyd anymore. Just another face. I don’t care about the guy one bit. I’m going to treat him as an opponent. You’ll see the difference in mentality.”
Gotti also told us it will be a neutral ref this weekend, rather than a second assignment for Bayless. “I know he tried to get his own ref again, but that’s not going to happen.”
He continued: “It’ll be a clean fight this time. I’ll keep my composure. He can say what he wants, do what he wants. I’m going to bring it to him and we’ll see what he’s about this time.
“I’m focused on this fight. This is the biggest fight of my whole career, my life. It’s very personal between me and Floyd, and needs to be settled.”
Alan Dawson is World Boxing News Lead Writer, a 2 x Sports Journalist of the Year finalist, and 5 x BWAA awards winner. Follow Alan @AlanDawsonSport.
