“Is this in slow motion?”
Fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
Those were the famous words of the boxing immortal Muhammad Ali. And whilst Logan Paul clearly has a fair about of heft behind him, perhaps giving him the ability to ‘sting like a bee,’ I think it’s more likely he’ll be flying like a hippo based on this training footage.
Ahead of his exhibition fight with Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather in Miami on Sunday, the press circus is in full swing, and Logan invited a whole scrum of photographers and media to watch him do some training. And safe to say, it looked like a light session.
Or at least, Paul fans will be hoping this footage was him taking it easy, because if this is him at full tilt then it could be a rather short show on Sunday, and make the whole event even more farcical that it already is.
In a 17-minute video, Paul is involved in some usual posturing and photo opportunities, with some intermittent breaks for pad work and bag work. Whilst he’s clearly built like a brick shit house, it looks like this may be causing Paul to suffer in the speed and agility department, as you can see below.
His speed, or rather lack of it, hasn’t gone unnoticed either. You don’t need to be Steve Bunce to see that he’s a bit cumbersome.
One user commented: “He looks like he’s moving in slo-mo compared to some of the guys Floyd has fought…”
Another said: “Looks sluggish to me. Needs more footwork, bouncing, evading, circling… and where’s the protection? Gloves held low, gonna get your bell rang.”
A third said that his coaches “should be fired” if their tactics are just to land one big shot on Mayweather.
A fourth simply asked: “Is this in slow motion? It looks like he throws a punch , then takes a breath before throwing another…”
You do get the sense that it’s completely down to Mayweather how long this fight lasts. Surely if he wanted to he could end it very early on.
But it’s an exhibition, and Floyd may want to put on a show, keep the fans that have bought the fight interested. The fight doesn’t even matter. That’s no exaggeration either. Whilst KOs will be allowed (at the discretion of the referee) the rules of the fight were announced on Thursday, revealing that there will be no official winner.
Of course that’s in a purely boxing sense. Financially, the two of them will be winners alright, whether you like it or not.
