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Mayweather and others believe this practice increases testosterone, but are they are right?
By Tom Miller — Written on Jun 06, 2021
As what was then considered the "biggest" professional fight of all time was set to take place in Las Vegas between undefeated American boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and brash Irishman Conor McGregor on August 26, 2017, it was revealed that "Money" Mayweather would partake in sex-related ritual of sorts many might find alternatively brilliant, sensible and/or bizarre.
And as Mayweather, 44, is set to head into an exhibition bout with YouTuber Logan Paul, 26, people are wondering if he will feel the need to do same in order to be ready.
What is the "strange" sex practice Mayweather relies on when preparing for a fight?
Speaking with TMZ at the time, Mayweather confirmed that he would be abstaining from sex until after the bout.
Any time a big fight is in the offing, we eventually run out of questions about training, the opponents and where the whole match will land in the history of the sport and manage to make our way back to the old will-they-or-won't-they-abstain-from-sex before the duel question.
Dating back to the Greeks, fighters, wrestlers, and athletes of all ilk have been instructed by older men to lay off sex (and even masturbation) while preparing for their big event.
The rationale ranges for the misogynistic ("women make you weak") to the faux-psychological ("you'll be madder!") to the quasi-scientific ("it saps testosterone!").
No study has been able to prove that abstinence has much of an effect on performance., though one study did note a major spike in testosterone on the seventh day of abstinence.
My friend and author of "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus," John Gray often discusses the week-long cyclical nature of male hormones in his prescription of weekly sex.
And per the study published in the Journal Of Zhejiang University, men have the presence of 146% baseline testosterone following six days of abstinence.
Then there's the choice McGregor made back in 2017.
He has said he has as much sex as possible before a fight. And in typical "the science is still out!" fashion, McGregor is also right (even though he lost).
Some evidence suggest there are health benefits to frequent ejaculation, which may include better sleep and a boosted immune system.
How valuable is testosterone in a fight?
Not to over-glamorize people beating one another up, but professional fighting does have a three-dimensional chess quality to it.
While an athlete is clearly acting and reacting to a potentially lethal opponent, he's also at odds with the limitations of his body and ego. For instance, trained fighters not only can get punched without flinching, the best fighters don't blink.
Given the plethora of variables, it's likely impossible to tell if abstinence affects an athlete's performance other than if he (or she!) thinks it does.
Floyd Mayweather has won all 50 of his professional fights and is regarded as the best defensive fighter of all time.
He has also been incarcerated for domestic violence, and came under fire for his use of homophobic language during his media tour with McGregor.
Is Mayweather abstaining from sex before his fight with Logan Paul?
Even though it's an exhibition match, the champion seems to be taking preparations seriously.
A source told The Sun that Mayweather kicked girlfriend Anna Monroe, 29, out of the house a few weeks before the fight in order to prevent by distracted by her while training.
“Floyd asked Anna to move out because he wants to focus on his boxing as he prepares for his next fights,” the source claimed.
The two are believed to still be together, with reports saying Mayweather apologized to her in advance and has asked her to pick a destination of her choice for a lavish post-fight vacation.
For his part, Paul doesn't seem to have commented on whether he is also choosing abstinence in preparation for the fight.
It's worth noting though, that while he'd originally pledged to his trainer that he would abstain prior to his 2019 fight with KSI, he later admitted to having broken the promise.
Given their Barnum & Bailey routine, both Paul and Mayweather are already both winners.
Mayweather revealed he's already made 30 million dollars "before even stepping into the ring, and hopes to reach 100 million dollars once the pay-per-view revenue from the match comes in."
Paul is expected to earn somewhere around 20 million.
So, do you think the fact that Mayweather is abstaining from sex will affect his performance?
Only time will tell.
Tom Miller is a writer and performer based in New York who's been a mechanical engineer and a banker and serves as general manager and coordinating video producer at YourTango.