Floyd Mayweather Appears to Have Fired Referee During John Gotti III Fight

On replay, however, it appeared to be a legal right hook.

Mayweather was outraged by the call and even lightly pushed Afu with his right hand.

Mayweather then began motioning for Afu to exit the ring, and appeared to say “move” and “shut up” while yelling at him and people outside the ring.

Eventually, Afu left the ring and a new referee entered.

The fight then resumed with the new referee.

The fight, a rematch of their disastrous first fight, was organized by Mayweather Promotions, which Mayweather owns.

There were no judges and no official decision as it was an exhibition, although Mayweather largely got the better of Gotti in what was a lackluster display that left fans booing at the end.

Mayweather did not address the referee change in his post-fight interview.

During their first meeting in June 2023, Gotti was disqualified for excessive respect and inappropriate remarks.

Gotti then started a fight inside the ring.

There was no scrum on Saturday night.

Mayweather, 47, last fought professionally in 2017 and retired with a perfect 50-0 record.

After the fight, Mayweather ruled out a possible exhibition against Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., 62, who was in attendance as a member of the DAZN broadcast team.

“He's one of the legends that I look up to and he paved the way for me,” Mayweather said. “He's older now, and if I put on an exhibition with him, it's not going to look good on me.”