Floyd Mayweather blow as Leeds-born kickboxing legend pulls out of historic bout

Leeds-born Muay-Thai kickboxing legend Liam Harrison has been forced to withdraw from his eagerly anticipated exhibition bout with Boxing great Floyd Mayweather.

The two fighters were scheduled to meet at London’s O2 Arena on February 25 in a fight that would have represented Mayweather’s first bout in the United Kingdom. However, just hours after the announcement of the event, Harrison has confirmed a knee injury has put an end to his hopes of meeting the world boxing icon.

In a lengthy statement released on his Instagram account, Harrison said: Harrison said in a lengthy statement on Instagram: “Many of you will have seen the announcement this morning about my fight against Floyd Mayweather. Devastatingly, my knee just won’t allow it. Discussions about the fight started a few days ago with the Mayweather team and I honestly thought I would be ok in a boxing fight, even with needing surgery on my knee.

“I upped my training as soon as discussions started and had some hard sparring and pads but almost immediately my knee had ballooned up and I can’t walk. Hitting pads is fine but the movement and agility needed to spar and especially fight just isn’t possible. My surgeon is in agreement that this won’t be possible and I am absolutely heart broken.

“This fight and everything that would have come with it would have changed my life. Furthermore, no contract for this had been received or signed. I’m exclusively contracted to ONE and I had approached them for permission and sign off. Without receipt of the contract and ONE’s review and approval of this, nothing was confirmed.”

With just under a month to go until the scheduled bout, it remains to be seen whether a replacement for Harrison can be found or if a new date will be required for Mayweather to make his long-awaited debut in the UK.