Mayweather Jr vs Gotti Predictions: Floyd makes an exhibition of himself

Floyd Mayweather takes on John Gotti III in an exhibition bout this Saturday, August 24. Arena Ciudad de Mexico in Mexico City will host the unusual attraction. DAZN PPV is screening the event, which also features an exhibition outing for former Mayweather rival Victor Ortiz. 

Here are my predictions ahead of this controversial rematch.

Mayweather and Gotti have met before. Their first bout ended in a sixth-round disqualification win for Mayweather, when Gotti repeatedly clinched and swore at Mayweather despite numerous warnings from the referee. When the fight was called off, Gotti attacked Mayweather, leading to a mass brawl between the respective teams representing the two men.

It is this fracas, rather than anything that happened during the exhibition fight, that has sparked a rematch. It was originally set for February and got so close to happening that we actually previewed it here. But the fight mysteriously dropped off schedules and re-emerges this weekend. 

This Mexico date had originally been earmarked for a fight between Mayweather and Ortiz, who fights on the undercard. Like the Gotti match-up, a re-do with Ortiz would have been based on controversy rather than merit. 

Their 2011 fight ended in a fourth-round knockout win for Mayweather. Ortiz had thrown a deliberate headbutt Floyd’s way, causing the ref to deduct a point. The fighters touched gloves and Ortiz apologised. The referee told the pair to fight and Ortiz attempted to hug Mayweather in another action of conciliation. But ‘Money’ heeded the referee’s words, knocking his rival out with a hard left hook and a precise right hand. The fight had been one-sided up to that point but the enmity would have been used to sell the proposed exhibition.

That is also the case here. Mayweather expectedly boxed circles around Gotti in their first exhibition. The latter is 2-0 as a professional fighter but his notoriety comes solely from his status as the grandson of ‘Teflon Don’ John Gotti, a notorious crime figure who gained national fame in the 1980s.

Had the fight played out as it was going, with Mayweather outlanding and outhustling Gotti without needing to exert much effort at all, we would not be talking about it. The whole affair would have been filed away with Floyd’s other meritless exhibitions against the likes of Geordie Shore’s Aaron Chalmers or overmatched kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa. 

But the disqualification and subsequent brawl has dragged us back for another look at these two poorly-matched rivals. As usual with these celebrity boxing circuses, the build-up and WWE-lite storyline is more compelling than the action is likely to be. Perhaps all involved should have taken another leaf from the tome of pro wrestling and just let Mayweather and Gotti’s hangers-on fight it out, Royal Rumble style.

Mayweather’s frequent comebacks have lost some of their lustre. As memories of his incredible professional in-ring career start to fade, the man they call ‘Money’ is suffering from diminishing returns. Fights with Deji Olatunji and Logan Paul appealed to the YouTube set, but even that thin sheen has eroded now. The youth have moved on.

Perversely, Floyd has seen his thunder stolen by Logan’s brother. Jake Paul has cornered the market in pseudo-pugilistic influencer toss. So much so that he has coaxed no less than ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson out of retirement to do the dance with him this coming November. 

If celebrity boxing doesn’t appeal to you, then Mayweather-Gotti will placate you no more than Paul-Tyson does. If you like the idea of pensionable punchers fighting non-boxers, then the latter bout holds far more glamour and intrigue than the former. ‘Money’ is in a position he was never forced to occupy during his career; second-best. 

Maybe Mayweather doesn’t care. After all, he’ll surely accrue another few million dollars to add to the pile through this fiasco. But you do wonder if a boxer who refers to himself as ‘The Best Ever’ wants more. Whether he hankers for relevancy as his 50-0 record fades into the boxing history books. 

Mayweather will not find absolution this way, swapping fights with Arturo Gatti for fights with John Gotti. But if it were him facing Jake Paul rather than ‘Iron’ Mike, he could at least spend a few more months at the centre of the conversation. A little while pretending Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, Oleksandr Usyk, Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue aren’t the banner fighters of the day. That ‘Money’ is still the centre of the universe. 

But alas, the 47-year-old will probably just be glad to get through this with a few million in the bank and without Gotti’s cornerman wrapping a chair around his head. Time waits for no man and this post-career is becoming undignified. Mayweather competed in five of the top 10 most-watched pay-per-view fights of all-time. This spurious match-up with Gotti will not make it onto that list.

Mayweather vs Gotti III Fight Odds

This one isn’t rocket science. Even at his age, Mayweather is on another planet entirely in terms of boxing acumen. Therefore, ‘Money’ is a weighty 1/20 favourite to secure victory here. Gotti’s chances aren’t quite snowball-in-hell, but 8/1 won’t inspire confidence in any but the most ardent punters. 

Mayweather vs Gotti III Full Card

(* denotes an exhibition fight)

Floyd Mayweather vs. John Gotti III*

Victor Ortiz vs. Rodrigo Damian Coria* 

Alan David Picasso vs. Azat Hovhannisyan

Curmel Tramayne Moton vs. Victor Vazquez 

Luis Rodriguez vs. Cesar Vaca

Aaron Silva vs. Alfonso Flores

Silvia Torres vs. Cecilia Rodriguez

Mayweather vs Gotti III Prediction

I won’t beat around the bush, I’m going for a Mayweather knockout here. Taking non-scored exhibitions out of the reckoning, Floyd has won three of his four unofficial outings by knockout. The Gotti DQ was the other bout, meaning nobody has taken him the distance in an exhibition in which a winner was crowned. 

Mayweather hit Gotti at will in the first bout. Look for him to do so again. This kid will not have learned enough to trouble even an ageing Mayweather since the first meeting. My pick is ‘Money’ Mayweather to stop the gangster’s grandon at odds of 1/20.