Fans baffled as Floyd Mayweather seems to fire referee mid-fight in John Gotti III rematch

The hotly-anticipated rematch fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and John Gotti III took place on Saturday night. 

However, it wasn’t what many expected, with no wow moments or knockdowns from either fighter, while the majority of the two-minute rounds passed by without any memorable punches landed.

But there was one moment in the fight where fans were left completely baffled as in round two Mayweather had the referee ejected. The unusual moment arose after Gotti complained that Mayweather hit him with a ‘rabbit punch’ – which is a blow to the back of the head.

Replays suggested it was actually a lopping hook thrown by Mayweather with found its way past Gotti’s guard, but much to Mayweather’s disgust, the referee paused the fight to allow Gotti a moment to recover.

Fans feared for a split second that there would be a repeat of the brawl seen at their first fight after Gotti was disqualified for excessive holding, but instead Mayweather called for the referee to ‘move out the way’ and to the shock of many he was replaced, with a new third man entering the ring. 

Mayweather was left disgusted after the referee listened to Gotti’s complaint about a ‘rabbit punch’

Soon after the call, the referee was replaced and a third man entered the ring

One fan wrote on the social media platform X: ‘I’ve never seen this. Mayweather fired the referee mid fight.’

Whilst a second person commented ‘Mayweather fires the ref mid fight. That was crazy to witness lol. That smirk at the end…’

Meanwhile, a third felt the need to say that the moment was just pure madness.

‘CHAOS: The ref warns Floyd Mayweather for hitting behind the head in RD2; Mayweather disagrees and motions for the ref to ‘get out the way’; the ref is then replaced with a new ref for the remaining rounds’

Other fans also likened the moment to what you would see in the WWE.

One fan wrote: ‘Another #MayweatherGotti fight, another clown show moment.

‘This time the ref got fired and replaced mid-fight. Really hope no one paid for this glorified WWE nonsense in a boxing ring.’ 

A second person commented ‘Floyd Mayweather kicked the referee out’ followed by a laughing face emoji and ‘All WWE Edition’. 

Once the new referee entered the ring, the fight continued without any more blips.

Since the fight was an exhibition fight, neither fighter looked eager to please the crowd or assert their dominance.

From the sixth round on, the crowd started loudly booing the fight after being unimpressed by the lack of action.

Mayweather, who finished his professional career with a 50-0 record, was also booed during his post-fight interview.