Floyd Mayweather’s planned exhibition bout against Greek kickboxing star Mike Zambidis in Athens on Saturday has been cancelled, according to federal court filings obtained by ESPN.
The pay-per-view event was scheduled to take place at the Telekon Center at the OAKA Olympic Complex in Athens. Its cancellation follows legal action by events company CSI, which sought an injunction in the Southern District Court of New York to block the fight. CSI’s attorney Melissa Glass informed the court that the exhibition would no longer proceed because uncertainty over its legal status had effectively halted promotion, distribution plans, and ticket sales. She indicated the bout could potentially be rescheduled.
The Athens event is one of several Mayweather appearances entangled in litigation. CSI sued Mayweather last week seeking to recover at least $4.65 million it claims to have paid the fighter for exclusive rights to promote planned exhibition bouts against Mike Tyson and Manny Pacquiao. Neither of those events materialised. A planned exhibition against Tyson late last year never took place, while a much-anticipated rematch with Pacquiao, announced by Netflix for September at the Sphere in Las Vegas, has been thrown into doubt.
That fight fell apart in part because Mayweather described it as an exhibition while Pacquiao stated he had signed for an official professional bout. The Sphere has since booked a concert by the Eagles for September 19, the date that had been set aside for the rematch.
The original Mayweather-Pacquiao fight in 2015 remains the highest-grossing bout in boxing history. Zambidis, 45, is an 18-time world champion best known for his career in K-1 MAX kickboxing. Mayweather, now 49, retired from professional boxing in 2017 with a perfect 50-0 record.
