Floyd Mayweather says he’s fighting ONE Championship’s Liam Harrison, but ‘Hitman’ shoots it down – ‘my knee won’t allow it’
- ONE chairman Chatri Sityodtong claims Mayweather is ‘posting fake news’, however, and insists Harrison is ‘exclusive to ONE’
- English Muay Thai star confirms discussions had started with American boxing icon’s team but says he ‘can’t walk’ because of injury
Floyd Mayweather claimed on Friday he was set to box ONE Championship Muay Thai star Liam Harrison in an exhibition fight in London on February 25.
But “The Hitman” shot it down within an hour, saying “my knee just won’t allow it”, confirming initial discussions with “Money” had taken place over the last few days.
This came soon after ONE chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong wrote on Instagram that undefeated American boxing superstar Mayweather “must be desperate”.
“He is posting fake news,” Chatri added. “Liam is exclusive to ONE and ONE has never been contacted by Floyd or his team.”
The 37-year-old Englishman Harrison has not fought since challenging ONE’s bantamweight Muay Thai champ Nong-O Gaiyanghadao last August.
“Many of you will have seen the announcement this morning about my fight against Floyd Mayweather,” Harrison wrote in an Instagram post on Friday.
“Devastatingly, my knee just won’t allow it. Discussions about the fight started a few days ago with the Mayweather team and I honestly thought I would be OK in a boxing fight, even with needing surgery on my knee.
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“I upped my training as soon as discussions started and had some hard sparring and pads but almost immediately my knee had ballooned up and I can’t walk. Hitting pads is fine but the movement and agility needed to spar and especially fight just isn’t possible.”
Harrison was set to fight Pongsiri PK. Saenchai at last Saturday’s ONE Fight Night 6 card in Bangkok, but pulled out of the fight in December because of a recurrence of the injury.
“My surgeon is in agreement that this won’t be possible and I am absolutely heart broken,” he added. “This fight and everything that would have come with it would have changed my life.
“Furthermore, no contract for this had been received or signed. I’m exclusively contracted to ONE and I had approached them for permission and sign off. Without receipt of the contract and ONE’s review and approval of this, nothing was confirmed.”
No other details for what would have been Mayweather’s first exhibition fight in the UK had been released, other than the date and the venue – at London’s O2 Arena.
Mayweather (50-0) retired from professional fighting in 2017 for the second time after a TKO victory over UFC superstar Conor McGregor in a money-spinning bout.
He has since gone on to box in several exhibition fights, including with Japanese MMA promotion Rizin.
“Floyd is the greatest boxer of all time and I would have wanted to put in a good account of myself,” Harrison said. “Not just for me but for the whole Muay Thai community.
“I’m seriously flattered to have even be approached for this fight and I really think I could have done well in it. But, as things stand, I’m going to have to stick to my surgery next week,
“I really hope when I’m recovered we can make this fight happen.”
