Tenshin Nasukawa says he learned how “truly great” Floyd Mayweather is after their match up.
Leading up to their exhibition boxing match on Rizin’s New Year’s Eve event, Tenshin Nasukawa felt that Floyd Mayweather may have been underestimating his skills. The young Japanese star didn’t have any professional boxing experience, but going undefeated and delivering all those savage knockouts in kickboxing made him feel like he’d at least perform better than others have done in there.
Less than two minutes into their contest, and Mayweather effortlessly dispelled that idea. Despite not having a training camp of his own, Floyd easily showed what a much bigger and far better boxer could do against a newcomer.
Nasukawa always knew that Mayweather is a superb boxing champion, but after getting in there and experiencing it first hand, he learned that it wasn’t Floyd who underestimated him, it was actually the other way around. He learned that Mayweather was far better than he ever imagined, and it will take a lot of effort and time before he can even get to a similar level in his kickboxing career.
He spoke about the humbling experience on social media.
“I am disappointed at myself since I thought I could have done better. But I will face the facts and will continue to take on any challenge,” Tenshin wrote on Instagram. “I learned that I didn’t work hard enough to earn this opportunity, and I will use this defeat to improve myself and move forward this year.
“Despite all the things that happened leading up to the fight, I came to realize how truly great Mayweather was. I was the one underestimating him,” he continued. “I promise to make it to that level! It may take some time for me to become the man to haul the industry on my shoulders, but please continue to support me! Everybody who work to make this fight happen, thank you very much. Mr. Mayweather, thank you very much.”
Some of the aura and hype surrounding Nasukawa may have been lost after that one-sided beating, but the youngster seems to be saying all the right things about the defeat.
There are levels in combat sports, and he was never going to outbox Mayweather, but if he truly learns from this, it may just help how he approaches his kickboxing career moving forward. He is still just 20-years-old after all.