Boxing

Floyd Mayweather says Logan Paul is lucky their exhibition wasn't a real fight ... 'cause if it was -- and he actually trained for it -- it would've been a 1st round knockout!!

Remember, the YouTube sensation went the distance with Mayweather in June -- even landing a few punches on the undefeated champ.

There wasn't a knockout during the bout ... which pissed off every boxing fan and gave the Paul bros. the bragging rights to say Logan went 8 full rounds with one of the GOATs in boxing.

But, Floyd says no one should've been surprised there was no KO ... 'cause it wasn't a real fight.

"People have gotta know, there's a difference between a real fight and an exhibition," Mayweather said this week at the WBC convention.

"I did an exhibition with the YouTuber Logan Paul. We had fun."

Now, for a REAL fight, Mayweather pulls out all the stops when training for his opponents ... even chopping wood like he did before his Manny Pacquiao fight in 2015.

But, for Logan, Floyd says he wasn't even training that hard.

"All I did was work out from time to time," Mayweather said, "If it was a real fight, it would've been a blowout in the first round."

Funny thing is, Logan told us back in July if he got a rematch with Floyd, "I promise I'll knock him out. Promise."

Well, money talks -- Mayweather reportedly made at least $30 million for the Logan fight ... and like he says, "When it comes to legalized bank robbing, I’m the best.”

Frank Gore could be making a career for himself in the boxing ring -- 'cause the ex-NFL Pro Bowler tells TMZ Sports he's open to taking a boxing match against Jake Paul!!

The 38-year-old is fighting Deron Williams on the undercard of the YouTuber's highly-anticipated match against Tommy Fury ... and Jake previously told us he's down to take the winner of the battle of the NBA and NFL stars.

We spoke with Gore right before his press conference leading up to the Dec. 18 event ... and while he says he's focused on taking care of DW, he admits he's interested in taking a future fight against the Problem Child.

"I'm with it," Gore said. "I wanna win this Dec. 18 and if it's time to go that me and Jake Paul can get in there, I'm with it."

As for his current fight against Williams, Gore says he's been boxing since 2005, so he's got plenty of experience leading up to stepping in the ring.

"I do love the sport and I respect the guys who box, man, because it's totally different."

Khaos Williams -- rising UFC star -- says there's no (legit) controversy surrounding his UFC Fight Night KO win ... which some have argued was stopped early by the ref.

"I'm glad that he's alright, but he was asleep. It was a good stoppage. It was a good stoppage. Live to fight another day," Khaos tells TMZ Sports.

He added ... "Definitely wasn't no early stoppage."

27-year-old Williams floored Miguel Baeza in the 3rd round with a perfectly placed right hook to the chin, sending the fighter crumbling to the Octagon floor. Khaos jumped on top of Miguel, raining down a few heavy ground and pound shots before the fight was stopped.

Baeza immediately protested, and he wasn't the only one.

Even Henry Cejudo said the stoppage was early, writing on social media ... "These refs really have to get checked. If someone gets dropped it doesn't mean you call the fight off! Too many refs calling the fights early @danawhite"

FYI, Dana White said the stoppage was good.

As for what's next for the rising star, Khaos is now 13-2 (and controversy aside, just beat a guy who only has 2 career losses) ... and is looking to fight a ranked opponent.

And if/when he does, Williams tells us he'd LOVE for hip-hop star Meek Mill -- a guy he's admired for many years -- to be by his side as he walks in the Octagon.

Sorry, Tyron Woodley -- that "I love Jake Paul" tattoo was all for naught ... 'cause Jake Paul tells TMZ Sports he's officially slamming the door on giving the former UFC champ a rematch.

Of course, Woodley held up his end of a tattoo bet he made with Paul after losing the Aug. 29 bout ... getting the phrase etched on the side of his middle finger nearly a month later, but clearly, Jake thought he was too slow to getting it done.

Paul -- who's fighting Tommy Fury on Dec. 18 -- says there's no need for Woodley to wait around in hopes of getting another shot at the YouTube superstar after he's done with TNT ... and has a pretty good reason why.

"I don't think people really wanna see Tyron vs Jake Paul again," Jake tells us. "He had his chance."

As for his upcoming fight, Paul admits the 7-0 brother of Tyson Fury is his toughest opponent to date ... but he's expecting the same outcome from his first 4 fights.

"Definitely the toughest guy, but I'm coming for his head," Jake added. "He has a lot a lot to deal with and he chose the wrong time to fight me because I'm not playing around this time."

Jake Paul and Tommy Fury might not be the only ones getting down and dirty -- the Problem Child's girlfriend, Julia Rose, tells TMZ Sports she wants to go up against TNT's lady, Molly-Mae Hague in a mud wrestling match for the ages!!!

There's been a lot of drama between the two girlfriends leading up to the Paul vs. Fury fight -- Julia publicly asked Molly if she wanted to place a friendly wager on the result, but got no response.

We caught up with Rose to see where things stood with Hague as the December 18 bout approaches ... and she said her efforts were all for naught.

"I tried having a bet," Rose told us while out in Vegas. "She didn't respond. Molly's not too confident in her man."

"Molly, let's make a bet. How confident are you in Tommy? Let's see."

Rose says the bet doesn't have to be like Jake's bet with Tommy -- which would force Fury to legally change his name to "Tommy Fumbles" for a year if he loses -- but makes it clear she's down to get something set in stone before the big event.

As for whether she'd take her beef into the ring with Molly-Mae ... Rose has an even better idea -- "We could mud wrestle."

Jake Paul says his DMs are getting bombarded with verbal jabs from the Gypsy King himself, telling us Tommy's heavyweight champ brother Tyson is already talkin' smack ahead of their fight.

The Problem Child joined Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs nightly on FS1) shortly after Tommy posted footage training with his big bro ... and Jake gave us his first impression of the video.

Long story short ... Jake says Tommy should lay off the junk food, and quit trying to fight like Tyson.

Speaking of ... Jake says he and Tyson have been going back and forth on social media, privately messaging each other a whole bunch of trash talk.

In fact, Jake shares one of the voice messages with TMZ Sports ... and it's hilarious.

"Jakey Boy, he's gonna annihilate you, Jakey!!!!" Tyson is heard telling Jake.

But, don't get it twisted, Jake is a HUGE Tyson fan, telling us he's got nothing but respect for the best heavyweight fighter in the world.

"You can't hate the guy. Like Tyson, I love ... I love Tyson. I love that he's involved. Great entertainer. Unfortunately, I have to end his brother's career."

Of course, this is arguably Jake's hardest test to date ... facing an up-and-coming, undefeated fighter (7-0).

4-0 Paul previously beat YouTuber AnEson Gib, ex-NBA star Nate Robinson, MMA star and Olympian Ben Askren, and most recently, future UFC Hall of Famer Tyron Woodley.

There's more ... we also talked to Jake about Deron Williams potentially fighting Frank Gore on his undercard.

We also asked Paul about Canelo Alvarez and Kamaru Usman -- 2 guys who won big Saturday night -- that Jake has a history with ... and could possibly fight in the future (hey, don't put it past the guy).

Who's the greatest Mexican boxer of all time?? It ain't Julio Cesar Chavez or Oscar De La Hoya ... boxing star Ryan Garcia tells TMZ Sports it's "without a doubt" Canelo Alvarez.

We talked to the 23-year-old, undefeated Garcia on the way out of the Canelo fight ... and we asked the Mexican American fighter whether 31-year-old Alvarez (57-1-2) should now be considered the best Mexican fighter of all time.

"Oh yeah, without a doubt. He's the best," Ryan says.

If you know boxing, you know Mexico has been the birthplace of some of the greatest pugilists to ever lace up a pair of gloves.

Cesar Chavez was a multiple-time world champion across several weight classes ... including super featherweight, lightweight, light welterweight, and lightweight. He was considered the world's top pound-for-pound boxer in the early '90s.

Julio -- who fought 115 professional fights (107-6-2) -- defended his title 27 times, a record. He beat Héctor Camacho and Roger Mayweather, just to name a few.

De La Hoya -- an Olympic gold medalist -- won 11 titles across 6 weight classes ... and beat guys like Héctor Camacho, Fernando Vargas, Ricardo Mayorga, Pernell Whitaker, and Arturo Gatti.

FYI, Oscar and Julio actually fought each other twice ... with De La Hoya winning both. Though, their first fight in 1996 was stopped largely due to a gash that reopened up (he originally got the cut in training camp) above Chavez's left eye.

The fighters rematched in 1998 ... and Oscar won via 8th round TKO.

As for Canelo, he's only lost 1 fight in his career -- to Floyd Mayweather in 2013 -- as a 23-year-old fighter.

So, we asked Garcia if today's version of Alvarez would beat Floyd.

"Most definitely. [Canelo's] focus, he's got everything on lock. He knows what to do now. He knows how to approach a fighter who keeps moving, and that's what he did today [against Caleb Plant]."

We also ran into Elie Seckbach from EsNews ... and asked him whether Alvarez had a chance to go down as the greatest boxer of all time (watch out Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson & Floyd).

Back to Ryan. We couldn't let the 21-0 fighter -- who recently underwent surgery for a hand injury -- go without getting a health update ... asking the lightweight contender when we'd see him back in the ring.

Boxing star Rolando Romero -- accused of sexually assaulting multiple women -- is breaking his silence on the disturbing allegations, telling TMZ Sports the claims against him are straight BS, and he will clear his name.

We ran into the 26-year-old, 14-1 boxer leaving the MGM Grand in Las Vegas after Canelo Alvarez knocked out Caleb Plant ... and we asked him to address the allegations.

"If my lawyers not here, I'm not allowed to talk about that, but let's just say it like this, that's some bulls**t. Simple as that," Romero told us.

Rolando later added ... "I am innocent."

Of course, Rolly was scheduled to fight rival Gervonta "Tank" Davis on December 5 ... but was pulled from the Showtime PPV fight after the allegations came to light.

Romero was accused of sexually assaulting multiple women ... including a 24-year-old woman at his Las Vegas apartment in 2019.

He has not been charged criminally in any of the cases.

We also asked Romero if he still wishes to box Tank ... and again, he makes it clear he wants to scrap with Davis ASAP.

"No s**t I wanna fight [Tank]. I can see why none of his f***ing opponents say anything, because the second I say anything miraculously I'm not there anymore."

It was just a few weeks ago, after Wilder-Fury III, that we again got Rolly leaving the arena ... and he predicted a first-round knockout.

Canelo Alvarez has hands like cement and apparently a voice like a baby angel -- 'cause after the boxer beat Caleb Plant in the ring Saturday ... he showed off his amazing pipes at a nightclub!

Alvarez hit up Zouk in Las Vegas to celebrate his big TKO win ... and at some point during the party, he grabbed the mic from Zedd and blessed the packed crowd with an impromptu singing performance.

The star boxer belted out "Eso Y Mas" -- a popular Mexican love song by Joan Sebastian -- and it was great!!

According to Zedd -- who posted the footage of Canelo's pipes on his TikTok page -- the pugilist sang for about 20 minutes ... and you can see by the DJ's face and everyone else's in the crowd, they were stunned by it all.

Canelo looked awesome on stage -- he was calm and cool, hittin' melodies we never knew he had!!

Canelo Alvarez says this fight is different than his previous 59 ... 'cause he's got legit bad blood with Caleb Plant, and he tells TMZ Sports he's gunning to really hurt his undefeated opponent.

We talked to the 31-year-old top pound-for-pound fighter in the world just days before his fight against the 29-year-old, 21-0 boxer ... and asked him if he had anger or animosity towards Plant after the men got into it at a recent media event.

“Yes, for sure it's more personal for me. But, I'm gonna use that in my favor. I'm gonna put all my skills, my experience to win this fight in a good way.”

We asked ... do you want to hurt him more after what went down?

"Yes, I'm gonna enjoy that,” Canelo responded.

We also asked how Alvarez predicted the fight would turn out.

"What I see is that it's gonna be difficult the first few rounds, then I'm gonna start doing my fight like always."

In case you missed it, Canelo and Caleb literally came to blows at a Beverly Hills promotional event in September ... with Alvarez opening up a substantial cut on Plants' face.

So yeah, the beef's real for Alvarez.

We also talked to Plant ... and we asked him a similar question.

Caleb tried to downplay the incident ... but eventually admitted he might want to put Canelo down just a bit more after the scrap in L.A.

Dana White believes Kamaru Usman will cement himself as the greatest welterweight of all time ... with one more win over Colby Covington.

TMZ Sports talked to the UFC honcho just days before UFC 268 ... headlined by Usman vs. Covington, a rematch of their incredible 2019 scrap -- a fight Kamaru won via 5th round knockout.

"Usman is in a place right now where he's the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. He's arguably right now the greatest welterweight of all time. He's already lapping guys, he's coming back and fighting guys for a second time," White said of Usman's legacy.

A few of the career attributes Dana listed ... undefeated in the UFC (14-0), won The Ultimate Fighter, longest win streak in welterweight history, least time on the bottom in UFC history, highest takedown defense in UFC history, to name a few.

And, Dana believes Usman could actually go down as the greatest MMA fighter ever.

"Colby Covington is a badass. He's very, very good. And, Usman beating him again will probably solidify him as the greatest welterweight ever, and yes, creeping up on G.O.A.T. status."

But, in order to do that, Kamaru must first beat Colby, the #1 contender, at UFC 268 Saturday night.

Canelo Alvarez vs. Kamaru Usman is the boxing match combat sports fans will NOT be seeing ... 'cause the world's top pound for pound pugilist tells TMZ Sports he just ain't interested in the fight.

"I don't see. It doesn't make sense for me. I want to make history in boxing, and I don't see anything right there," Canelo says.

Of course, 34-year-old Usman made news this week when he said he was interested in boxing 31-year-old Alvarez down the line ... something his manager Ali Abdelaziz has previously told us. Kamaru also talked to Joe Rogan about the possible fight last year.

"I think that's something that [would be] the biggest ever in history," Usman said of a fight with Canelo at UFC 268 media day.

"That's what I'm looking to do. That's something that scares me. That's something that gets me up in the morning. That's something that I might risk leaving my daughter for another 12 weeks for."

FYI, both men will be in action this Saturday night. Usman is rematching Colby Covington at UFC 268 (there first fight was legendary) ... and Alvarez is fighting undefeated boxer Caleb Plant. Alvarez and Plant literally came to blows at a media event a few weeks ago.

Now, this isn't Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather ... in that there isn't any trash talk or bad blood between the two top fighters.

In fact, the Nigerian Nightmare was very complimentary of the Mexican champ.

"He's a master of his craft," Usman said.

"[Canelo's] used to these boxers. He's used to the boxing speed and the boxing movements and things like that. We're different. Sometimes different can be good. What's wrong with giving him a different look? Of course, it's a tall tree to climb, but we saw what happened the last time I was the underdog."

As for the legacy that Alvarez is building ... we asked him if he believed he could do enough to one day go down as the greatest boxer of all-time.

"I don't know, we'll see. We'll look at my number, and we'll see."

The Jake Paul vs. Tommy Fury fight just got a helluva lot more interesting -- ex-NBA star Deron Williams (yes, the dude who played for the Jazz) has been added to the undercard ... and he could be going up against none other than former NFL running back Frank Gore!!!

Williams -- the third overall pick to the Jazz in 2005 -- reportedly just signed on to follow in Nate Robinson's footsteps and make his boxing debut on December 18 in Tampa Bay.

While Williams doesn't have any fights under his belt, we're told he's actually nothing to scoff at -- Deron was a state champion on the mats in Texas. He won titles as an 8 and 12-year-old in 1993 and 1997.

UFC fighter Ryan Spann -- who trains with Williams at Fortis MMA -- said he even sparred with the guy and got his ass beat!!!

As for his opponent, Shams Charania says it could be Gore -- a 5-time Pro Bowler who played 16 years in the NFL.

Gore has put in some serious training off the field and has shown he's got some skills, so it could end up being quite the interesting matchup.

Shakur Stevenson says he has no problem fighting Teofimo Lopez or Devin Haney down the road -- but his dream matchup would be a scrap with Gervonta 'Tank' Davis.

And, that's no disrespect to Teo and Devin ... the 24-year-old telling TMZ Sports, they're great at what they do.

"Teo is a great boxer-puncher," Stevenson says, "Devin is a great boxer, He's not that big of a puncher but he got really good boxing skills."

"At the end of the day, all of them guys are good fights for me later down the line."

Awesome news for boxing fans.

But, if Stevenson had to just pick one, it'd be Davis ... saying he and Tank are the best in their weight class, like Terrence Crawford and Errol Spence at welterweight.

"I feel like me and him in the ring one day would make the best versus the best," Stevenson said, "like how Bud and Errol is like 'elite versus elite' on like a whole new level of talent."

"At the end of the day, that's mainly who I would think that would be one of the best fights."

"It's like respect to Tank. I give respect to Tank because I feel like he's skillful and he's like an exciting fighter. He's a big puncher, aggressive and I respect his game."

If (and hopefully when🤞) this matchup happens, Stevenson says he would have to be on point every second of the fight ... and, so would Tank.

"I can't make no mistakes. Same with him! I feel like he can't allow me to take control of the fight because I can take control of a fight real easy."

"Once I take control of a fight and once I take off, it's like how do you get back in the fight? You can't get back in once you down six, seven rounds because it's too late now."

Stevenson just did that to boxer Jamel Herring -- a former champion -- with a 10th round TKO on Oct. 23, becoming the new WBO junior lightweight champion.

Mark your calendars ... Jake Paul and Tommy Fury will officially take the ring in December -- with the YouTube superstar announcing the fight date Friday.

"Pucker up Timmy, it’s time to kiss ur last name and ur family’s boxing legacy goodbye," Jake said on Twitter minutes ago.

The epic showdown is set to happen at Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay ... and Jake is vowing to hang out with some local celebs after coming away with the win.

"DEC 18th Im changing this wankers name to Tommy Fumbles and celebrating with Tom Brady."

Of course, Jake has previously claimed Tommy will have to legally change his name if he loses ... which he's told us he's not sweating at all, 'cause Fury is guaranteeing to put Paul into retirement.

Jake is 4-0 with wins over Nate Robinson, Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley ... but this is his first fight against a boxer.

Fury -- heavyweight champ Tyson's lil' bro -- is 7-0.

After months and months of going back and forth, it's finally happening ... and we legitimately cannot wait.

Logan Paul got in a physical altercation with a man outside an L.A. hotspot late Wednesday night ... slapping a heckler upside the head after he called the YouTube superstar a "p***y."

26-year-old Logan was waiting outside Nightingale in WeHo when a bunch of autograph seekers came up to him and started asking about his rumored fight with Mike Tyson.

When LP ignored the questions, one man called him out and said, "Are you a p***y, or what??" ... before trying to walk away.

That's when Logan aggressively approached the man ... getting in his face and shoving him before smacking him in the head.

The crowd is audibly shocked ... with several people gasping and saying, "Oh s***."

Logan's friend and "Impaulsive" podcast co-host Mike Majlak jumped into action ... pushing and shoving the heckler backwards before security came in and bear-hugged the guy away.

Majlak urged Logan to go into the club, but both guys were able to calm down and even joke with each other as Paul waited for valet to bring his Polaroid camera from his car.

Of course, Logan has been facing off against much bigger and more talented competition recently ... going 8 rounds with Floyd Mayweather back in June.

What's bizarre -- Logan maintained a smile throughout the whole incident ... but it's clear the altercation was pretty tense.

Logan eventually gets reunited with his beloved camera and heads into the club ... but accidentally drops it on his way in.