Boxing fans were shocked and amused when it appeared that Floyd Mayweather Jr “fired” the referee in the middle of his fight with John Gotti III on Saturday, causing a new ref to take over for the rest of the fight.
During the second round in Mexico City, Mayweather and referee Hector Afu had words when Afu ruled that Mayweather delivered an illegal shot to the back of Gotti’s head, Fox News reported.
After Afu made his ruling, Mayweather brushed the ref aside, and they appeared to have some words.
Afu finished out the second round, but when round three rang in, referee Alfredo Uruzquieta suddenly appeared in the ring to officiate.
Fans quickly jumped to social media to chortle that the 47-year-old Mayweather “fired” Afu and had him replaced.
Floyd Mayweather FIRES his referee in the middle of his boxing match against John Gotti III for calling a BS rabbit punch. #MayweatherGotti#Boxing pic.twitter.com/NW1hoYoPFQ
— Parry Punch (@ParryPunchNews) August 25, 2024
Mayweather fires the ref mid fight. That was crazy to witness lol. That smirk at the end…#FloydMayweather #Gotti #Boxing #misfits #fightingvideos #UFCVegas96 #KSI #Jakepaul pic.twitter.com/oSKtJv2Tr4
— South African MMA (@MMASouthAfrican) August 25, 2024
Floyd Mayweather has so much power he can now fire referees during his fights! #floydmayweather #boxingnews #boxinghttps://t.co/dYTsayMWLM
— Ringside Intel (@RingsideIntel) August 25, 2024
At the end of round two, both Gotti and Mayweather and their teams weighed in on Afu, so apparently, officials agreed to dump him and replace him with Uruzquieta.
Despite having retired seven years ago, Mayweather went the distance and was pretty clearly the winner by the end of the eight rounds on Saturday. His last pro-fight was against Connor McGregor in 2017. But he did face Gotti in an exhibition bout last year, which had devolved into a chaotic scene in the ring.
Still, Mayweather continues accepting exhibition bouts and has faced three Japanese fighters, including Logan Paul, since 2018.
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