Boxing Hall of Famer Floyd Mayweather Jr. is going country.
His promotional outlet Mayweather Promotions has announced a partnership with Country Box, which will bring Mayweather's fighters to Nashville to fight on the city's preeminent boxing show. Country Box is owned and operated by longtime Tennessee-based promoter Jimmy Adams, a protégé of Don King.
With Country Box, Adams has put a southern spin on your typical boxing show, intertwining country concerts with a full slate of professionally sanctioned fights each month. Now he combines forces with Mayweather to feature some of the former champion's top pugilistic prospects in Nashville.
"It just came from back and forth talking to Floyd's people and then me and Floyd, we had conversations.
I'm very excited," Adams told The Tennessean. "I feel very lucky in my boxing career. I've been with the greatest promoter of all time for 50 years in Don King and now to follow it up being involved with Floyd Mayweather, the greatest fighter of all time, I'm ecstatic."
Country Box will provide Mayweather's up-and-coming fighters the chance for steady activity in the ring, with Adams having promoted 43 shows locally since Country Box's inception in 2023. And for Adams, the co-sign of one of boxing's most influential superstars brings name recognition to an already growing regional promotion.
Country Box's partnership with Mayweather Promotions begins on Sept. 1 with unbeaten Kamari Burnside (6-0, 3 KOs) taking center stage at Plaza Mariachi in Nashville. Also on the card is undefeated Cuban-born prospect Maidel Sando (16-0-1), who's promoted by Adams.
Then Mayweather Promotions prospects Abdullah Kedar (9-0, 6 KOs) and Dorian Khan Jr. (2-1, 2 KOs) are expected to feature in separate bouts on an Oct. 6 Country Box card.
"I see nothing but good things coming (with this partnership)," Adams said. "We both promote some good talent, so to bring our talent together to take on the world, I think it's a good opportunity for everybody."
It's a fighters first mentality which ultimately solidified the partnership between Adams and Mayweather. Adams entered boxing in the 1980s managing former heavyweight champion Earnie Shavers, soon getting to know the likes of Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and Angelo Dundee.
And it's the principles by which those fighters operated that Adams hopes to restore in his work alongside Mayweather.
"I see some of the stuff going on now and it makes me proud that maybe Floyd and I can bring back some of the reality of what these guys stood for back in the day," Adams said. "I know when we talked, that's what Floyd said too. It's a platform for the fighters, to build his fighters, to give them the opportunity."
Harrison Campbell covers boxing for The Tennessean and high school sports for The Daily Herald. Email him at hcampbell@usatodayco.com and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @hccamp.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Floyd Mayweather strikes promotional partnership with Nashville's Country Box
