Paul slams rumors that Mayweather spared him KO – and ex-champ Foreman claims rookie ‘dominated’ legend in 'exciting’ bout (VIDEO)

YouTuber Logan Paul has slammed fans who pointed out that Floyd Mayweather appeared to have stopped him from hitting the canvas in their fight – and boxing great George Foreman has said he found the novelty exhibition unmissable.

Close-up videos produced after the celebrity fight, which was watched by a vast crowd at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, alleged that the 50-0 five-weight ruler knocked out Paul and then rushed to grab him and hold him up with his arms.

The clips have been accompanied by rumors that the 44-year-old saved Paul to ensure that the bout went all the way to the end of the eight rounds, making more of a spectacle of a clash that some had dismissed as a farce while potentially earning more money for both fighters.

As Mayweather predicted he stood to make $100 million from his "legalized bank robbery", Paul, who many tip to have earned a respectable $20 million, has responded to the furor.

"Yo, I'm seeing this narrative going around," he told his millions of followers on Instagram.

"There's one part in the fight where Floyd punched me and I kind of leaned on him a little bit. It looks like I kind of went limp.

"People are trying to spin it and say he knocked me out and caught me and kept me up to keep the fight going to the eighth round.

"Shut the f*ck up. Just shut the f*ck up. Stop trying to discredit what happened."

Warning: video contains swearing

"Make no mistake, he got a lot of good punches in; there's a couple of photos I got f*cked up in – a couple of shots, I didn't know my face could make that shape.

"But [I was] never rocked, never blacked out, never obviously got knocked out.

"He didn't hold me up, he tried to take me out but he couldn't. It was great."

Widely regarded as one of the greatest practicians of the sweet science to ever lace up a pair of gloves, Mayweather also enjoyed himself and was impressed by the 26-year-old's durability.

"I had fun," he claimed. "You've got to realize I'm not 21 anymore. But it's good to move around with these young guys – test my skills, just to have some fun."

"[He's] a great young fighter. Strong, tough. He's better than I thought he was. He's a tough, rough competitor. It was good action. I was surprised by him.

"Even though he doesn't have much experience, he knew how to use his weight and he knew how to tie me up."

The dubious sporting merit of a contest in which neither fighter proved busy has been widely derided by fighters, analysts and fans –but a legend of the squared circle, former heavyweight champion George Foreman, has surprisingly voiced his enthusiasm, even suggesting that he could not stop watching.

"The strangest thing is, I’m starting to enjoy these exhibitions a lot more than the so-called competitive fights they put on because there’s no entertainment value to those," Foreman explained to USA TODAY Sports.

"These have entertainment value. Mayweather turned into the slugger, following the guy around. And [Paul] is as long as [basketball player] Wilt Chamberlain with that jab. It was exciting.

"There’s something really entertaining about this kid," Foreman stressed of Paul, "and I don’t know where it’s going from there. But I was excited.

"And look, I’m an Olympic gold medalist, two-time heavyweight champion of the world and I didn’t miss a second of it. I was afraid to get up and walk away from it for a minute.

"It was an exciting night for me – and I didn’t expect that, believe me. Some guys would say, ‘I’m turning this off now.’ I would not leave the television because, at any second, I thought Mayweather might take him out.

"Then the kid starts jumping around using his jab and dominating. He didn’t have the experience Mayweather had, but he dominated with his size."

Top Rank chief Bob Arum, who once boasted Mayweather in his stable, wasn't a fan of the spectacle.

"It’s a joke," Arum said. "It’s farcical. I wouldn’t pay five cents to watch it.

"Nobody’s going to get hurt because everybody knows it’s all relatively scripted," the 89-year-old quipped of exhibition matches.

"Mayweather could have got him out anytime he wanted."

Speaking to the same outlet, Hall-of-Fame trainer Teddy Atlas dubbed the fight a "pure money grab" but didn't "begrudge either [boxer] for exploiting something that’s there to be exploited".

One of the most scathing criticisms so far has come from former light-welterweight king Ricky Hatton, who once faced Mayweather in a memorable 2007 scrap.

After already slamming the American in his Metro column before the fight, 'The Hitman' took to Instagram to double down on his disgust with the "sh*t for boxing" scrap.

"What the f*ck was all this about? What happened to the days where fighters would put their lives on the line to try be the best and at least fight the best?" he asked his 300,000 followers on Instagram. 

"Now we have fighters calling out YouTubers as that's where the most money is these days due to the social media world we live in?

"I can live with an exhibition like Mike [Tyson] and Roy [Jones] did, between two legends of our sport, but the greatest fighter of all time who has only recently retired, against somebody who's only there because of how many followers he has and not because of who he's previously beaten?

"Money is important, that's why we went from the amateurs and turned pro. But these days money seems more important than the legacy.

"Floyd and Logan: hey, every man to their own. Good luck to both. My personal opinion: that was sh*t for boxing."

But as Mayweather has claimed when batting off such criticism: "They say, 'It's not all about the money.' Well, your kids can't eat legacy.

"The patches on my trunks earned me $30 million alone. So who's really the smartest one in the sport of boxing? When it comes to legalized bank robbing, I'm the best."