Floyd Mayweather vs. John Gotti III preview & prediction

Closing on a decade since he officially retired, Floyd "Money" Mayweather still garners the same amount of headlines as active fighters. In his now eighth exhibition match, Mayweather returns to the ring on August 24 at the Arena Ciudad de Mexico in Mexico City. The undefeated Hall-of-Famer's opponent will be former MMA practitioner and boxer John Gotti III (2-0,1 KO), the grandson of the infamous mob boss of the same name in an eight-round exhibition contest. The fight will headline a 12-fight card on PPV and broadcast live on DAZN. 

Mayweather amassed unprecedented accolades throughout his professional boxing career. He became among the few fighters to win titles in five weight classes, faced over 20 world champions, and remained undefeated through 50 fights. In the back half of his career, Mayweather won the Fighter of the Decade award from the BWAA for 2010-2019. Possibly, more importantly to him, he became the most successful and highest-selling PPV attraction of all time. 

Due to the circumstances of how the first encounter between Mayweather and Gotti ended, a rare exhibition rematch is taking place. Bad blood permeated the first Mayweather-Gotti match. Trash-talking from both camps began through the first press conference and only intensified on the day of the fight. Inside the ring, during rounds, the trash talk went nuclear and was the direct cause of the exhibition being stopped.

Following five dominant rounds from Mayweather, during which he controlled the action and pace of the fight, the younger Gotti grew overly frustrated and verbally lashed out at his opponent. Referee Kenny Bayless felt the trash talk was crossing the line, becoming excessive and stopped the match. 

When the bout was stopped, it led to a massive brawl between both camps. The fighting became contagious, with more altercations occurring outside the ring, leaving the arena in a melee and putting fans in danger. 

"He started the trash talking right away in the very beginning of the fight," Gotti told DAZN about the first exhibition match with Mayweather. "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 right, I started delivering the trash talk back. From there, it just got really out of hand."

The rematch with Gotti will be Mayweather's first time fighting someone twice in the exhibition realm of boxing. As a professional through his 50-fight career, the defensive master only had two rematches. In April 2002, Mayweather moved up to the lightweight division to challenge Mexico's Jose Luis Castillo for the WBC lightweight title. In what is still considered the most controversial fight of his career, Mayweather won a disputed unanimous decision. A rematch later that same year, in December 2002, saw Mayweather in another close fight, but he was able to separate himself from his opponent, winning another decision. 

"I told you it would be easy this time," Mayweather said after the rematch with Castillo.  "My plan was to box more, no power shots, be smart." 

Floyd Mayweather vs. John Gotti III prediction

Over a decade later and two divisions up the weight scale at welterweight, Mayweather fought the power-punching brawler Marcos Maidana twice in 2014. Maidana's volume and relentless aggression created an exciting and close affair in the first fight. Still, in the sequel, Mayweather's usage of the clinch and movement rendered the power puncher ineffective. Simply put, Mayweather has proven he can make the necessary adjustments in rematches to leave no doubt in the eyes of judges and fans. 

Even with a 16-year age gap, Mayweather largely dominated Gotti in their first exhibition match. At 47, there is a possibility Mayweather could slow down enough to get caught by a punch he doesn't see coming. Gotti III doesn't seem intimated by Mayweather, and after being in the ring with him, he may feel more comfortable throwing more punches. But, Gotti being more aggressive will play more into Mayweather's hands. With added motivation of personal animosity, look for the Hall-of-Famer to be more gung-ho with his punches and stop Gotti before the eight-round distance.

Prediction: Mayweather by stoppage