During a visit to London, Floyd Mayweather had an unpleasant experience. The legendary boxer was attacked on Tuesday evening by several pro-Palestinian protesters during a shopping trip in the Hatton Garden neighborhood of London.
Mayweather has publicly and enthusiastically supported Israel since the October 7 Hamas massacre. He visited Israel quite a few times, and even donated to one of the country's rescue organizations more than once as part of his support for Israel. last week he was on hand to watch the Tel Aviv basketball derby between Maccabi and Hapoel.
A source close to Mayweather told The Sun that "the crowd used racial slurs" toward him during the incident. According to an eyewitness, about 10 people attacked the boxer, while about 25 watched the incident. The eyewitness said that Mayweather was asked why he supported Israel, and after he replied that he was proud of it, someone tried to hit him. The security guards who arrived with him helped him quickly escape the scene.
"He was bundled out of the shop but by then there were multiple people trying to hit him, and pushing his security guards," the eyewitness told The Sun. “Floyd took a few hits during it, but his security was trying to push people back. I couldn't really see Floyd trying to throw any punches back. His guards were just trying to get distance between him and them. They got him into a car and tapped the roof two times, then it sped off. Clearly, they were desperate to get him out of there."
“It was over within two minutes,” he told The Sun.
Mayweather posted on Instagram about the incident saying he "wasn't punched or touched in any way," adding: "What you're seeing is just my security doing their job to keep things under control."
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The love story between Israel and Mayweather began about two years ago. He arrived in November 2022 for a surprise visit. He was at the Western Wall, walked around the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem and asked for shawarma recommendations from fans, and was a guest of his friend Xavier Manford at the Tel Aviv derby last year.
Following his support for Israel, the athlete was honored in December 2023 at a special fundraising ceremony held in Florida, where he was awarded the title of "Champion of Israel." Two months ago, he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.