Star kickboxer Liam Harrison was “devastated” after a knee injury forced him to pull out of an exhibition bout with Floyd Mayweather and he still hopes to fight the boxing icon in the future.
Mayweather ended his boxing career with a perfect record of 50-0, and will go down as one of the legends in the sport.
In recent years he has fought in numerous exhibition bouts, including against YouTube sensation and WWE star Logan Paul.
Harrison reveals how he almost joined the list of athletes who had faced Mayweather in a boxing ring, telling Sky Sports’ MMA Club: “I got asked to fight Floyd Mayweather last year and I couldn’t believe what was happening!
“After one of my fights, I got a bad knee injury. My MCL was torn, my ACL was torn, my knee was just flopping around my leg! They asked me to do the fight and I thought it’s only boxing, I don’t have to throw any kicks. I thought I’ll take it, so I just said yeah.
“For the first couple of days I was training, hitting pads, doing pad work, I thought I’m alright here, I’ll get through this.
“Then when I started sparring and I didn’t have control of where their movements were going, people started pushing me back, after training I was getting out, unwrapping my leg. It was all just swollen.
“It got to the point where I was training hard for a day then I couldn’t walk for three days just because of how badly damaged my leg was.”
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Despite initially accepting the offer, Harrison explained how the injury’s severity ultimately ended up preventing the exhibition contest, stating: “I said to my surgeon this is the chance to fight Floyd Mayweather here, can I get through this camp do you reckon?
“The fight was scheduled for February 17, or something like that, and my surgery was due for January 30. I said: ‘Can I push it back and get through the fight?’
“He said: ‘Listen I’m not going to tell you what to do, but you might do some lasting damage here.
“‘You might end up walking with a limp, you’ll need a knee replacement by the time you’re 40.’
“He said: ‘Is all that going to be worth it?'”
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Harrison is one of the best kickboxers ever to emerge from the UK and is currently highly ranked in the ONE Championship martial arts promotion.
The 38-year-old could have jeopardised his future in kickboxing if he had gone ahead with the boxing exhibition with Mayweather. Ultimately he decided against pursuing that lucrative showdown.
“I thought I’m probably not going to lay a glove on this guy even when I’m at full fitness. I probably won’t be able to hit him, let alone if I’m on one leg,” he said.
“I thought: ‘Is it going to be worth just getting in there and humiliating myself where I can’t move properly?’ I had to pull out and I was absolutely devastated.
“But you never know, it might come back around.”