American YouTube personality Logan Paul has rejected the suggestion Floyd Mayweather propped him up to make sure their exhibition boxing bout went the full eight rounds in Miami on Monday (AEST).
Paul, who has attracted over 23 million subscrbers to his YouTube channel, went the distance with the retired 44-year-old Mayweather, who is regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time.
No winner was declared because it was an exhibition bout and immediately after the fight Paul drew praise from five-weight world champion Mayweather, who said his opponent was "better than I thought he was".
But in the aftermath of the bout, some boxing fans and viewers have cast doubt on the legitimacy of the encounter, citing an incident in the fifth round when Mayweather landed a punch on Paul's head.
A groggy Paul lurched forward and appeared headed for the canvas but instead fell into Mayweather's body.
Twitter users and US media commentators believe Mayweather made sure he held Paul up so the bout could continue through to the final round.
"There were a few moments where you couldn't help but wonder if Mayweather was holding his punches — and even physically holding up Paul from a knockout finish," Henry McKenna wrote in USA Today's For the Win.
Paul posted an Instagram story this morning (AEST) dismissing the claims he was carried by Mayweather to ensure the bout when the distance.
"I'm seeing this narrative going around that there's one part in the fight where Floyd punched me and I leaned on him and it looks like I kind of went limp," Paul said.
"People are trying to spin it and say he knocked me out and caught me, and kept me going to keep the fight going to the eighth round.
"Shut the f*** up. Just shut the f*** up. Stop trying to discredit what happened last night."
Paul gave credit to Mayweather, while heaping praise on himself for making it through to the end of the eighth round.
"Make no mistake, he got a lot of good punches in," Paul said.
"I got f***ed up on a couple of shots. I didn't know my face could make that shape.
Paul shared a photo of himself following the fight on his social media platforms, describing himself as "not too bad" and "not too shabby".
Both Paul and Mayweather will enjoy a significant financial windfall worth millions of dollars as a result of the exhibition bout.
But the monetary reward will not be enough to entice Mayweather — who ended his professional career in 2017 with a perfect 50-0 win-loss record — to come out of retirement.
"I'm not coming back to the sport of boxing, absolutely not," Mayweather said after the fight.
"I did what I had to do, I made my mark on the sport, I got all my faculties, made a ton of money. Money ain't everything."
