A boxer is always ready for a scrap, whether or not they are inside a ring, something NBA legend Paul Pierce claims to have experienced firsthand against Floyd Mayweather. Don’t fret, Floyd wasn’t throwing hands at the former Celtics star, but the pair did find themselves engaged in a rather bizarre competition,
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In 2008, Pierce and the Boston Celtics were fresh off the heels of an NBA championship and to honor tradition, they went to Las Vegas for a celebration. Coincidentally, their booth just so happened to be beside the then welterweight boxing champion Floyd Mayweather.
At the time, Mayweather was 38-0 and relatively fresh off his fight with Ricky Hatton. Mayweather, back then was known to travel with a formidable crew and they could cause quite a scene, However, Pierce and his crew weren’t about to let their presence disrupt their celebratory night.
“I don’t know what club we was in, but we was in the section ordering bottles. 10, 11 bottles or whatever,” Pierce revealed on the White Noise podcast.
The boxing champion happened to be right beside Pierce. After taking notice of their frequent bottle service, Mayweather decided to play as well.
“Floyd is in the one right next to us. So then he ordered 10-11 bottles. So his sparklers coming out. Now it looks like we’re in a sparklers war with Floyd,” Pierce proclaimed.
Mayweather is notorious for not being shy to flaunt his riches. There are multiple videos of him flaunting millions of dollars in cash, which he posts himself. It should be noted that despite Mayweather ordering 10-11 bottles, he was dead sober throughout. The undefeated boxer is famously straight edge.
“And mind you, Floyd don’t even drink. I went up to him like, ‘Dog, what’re you doing?’ [He’s like] ‘Nah, I see y’all getting bottles so I’m getting them,'” Pierce said.
Mayweather’s competitive spirit wouldn’t even let him get outplayed even at a club. Regardless, Pierce and Mayweahter continued to battle in this so-called sparkling war for the majority of the night. The pair had everybody’s eyes on them by the end of the night.
“When we left, I was with [Sam Cassell]. Walking down the lobby of the casino, going back to our room. When I tell you we turned around, it looked like the whole club was following us. I’m talking about we emptied out,” Pierce said.
Apparently, rumor spread that the party would continue in Pierce’s room. He immediately put that notion to bed, but couldn’t believe the pull that he had from that night. He even came out victorious in a battle against Mayweather, who has never lost a fight in the ring.
