Floyd Mayweather has deleted all his Instagram posts referencing the Tenshin Nasukawa fight after claiming he never agreed to it in the first place

REUTERS/Issei Kato

Floyd Mayweather at the Rizin press conference in Japan.

• Floyd Mayweather has been busy removing any evidence of a Tenshin Nasukawa fight from his personal Instagram account.
• Mayweather had posted a teaser photograph of himself wearing Rizin mixed martial arts gloves.
• He also attended a press conference to confirm a fight, spoke positively about his supposed December 31 opponent, and said he would give "the people something they've never seen before."
• But now he claims he was "blind-sided," duped, and has deleted any references to the Rizin 14 show on December 31.

Floyd Mayweather scrambled to delete all of his references to a Rizin 14 bout against Tenshin Nasukawa after issuing as statement saying he never agreed to the fight in the first place.

Mayweather has teased comeback fights against his former opponent Manny Pacquio and the UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in recent weeks.

But the American went one step further with Rizin and Nasukawa by posting an image of him wearing Rizin mixed martial arts gloves on Instagram. He attended a media event in Japan to confirm the event, which was due to take place on December 31, praised his supposed opponent, and said he would be giving "the people something they've never seen before."

But the fight, Mayweather now claims, is null and void. In an Instagram statement on Wednesday, after he had left Japan and flown back to the US, Mayweather claimed he had been duped and that the fight was meant to be an exhibition for "a small group of wealthy spectators."

The press conference, he said, caught him off-guard. "I was completely blindsided," he wrote.

Mayweather then deleted all references he had made to the fight, including the image of him in Rizin gloves.

The 20-year-old he was set to face, Nasukawa, also posted details of the fight on his Instagram.

Here is what appears to be the fight poster for the December 31 show:

This post details a price-point for tickets at the Saitama Super Arena (approximately $130):

There was even a promo photoshoot:

But none of these details exist on Mayweather's Instagram any more - all that is left is his statement claiming no fight exists, photographs of his latest property purchase, and evidence of his rivalry with his former opponent Oscar de la Hoya whom he calls a "b----" and a "h--."