On June 6, 2021, a picture started to circulate on social media that supposedly showed Logan Paul, a popular YouTuber-turned-boxer, wearing a Charizard Pokémon card around his neck as he walked out into the area before his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr.:
This is a genuine photograph of Paul with a Charizard Pokémon card.
The card is one of Paul's prized possessions. Paul purchased this 1st edition card for $150,000 from Pokémon collector Gary Haase, known as King Pokémon, during a negotiation that literally involved a briefcase full of cash in October 2020.
In addition to the fact that Paul truly owns this card — and thus, could plausibly use it as a showpiece during a celebrity boxing match — photographs from credible news agencies also captured the moment when Paul entered the ring with a Pokémon around his neck.
The picture at the top of this article for example was taken by Cliff Hawkins of Getty Images and is available with the following caption:
Logan Paul walks to the ring for his contracted exhibition boxing match against Floyd Mayweather at Hard Rock Stadium on June 06, 2021 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
The Mayweather and Paul fight technically ended in a tie since neither boxer was knocked out, and this was an exhibition match, which means points are not traditionally recorded. While Mayweather likely would have won the match (based on unofficial scorecards), the boxing legend said that Paul was better than he expected:
"He's better than I thought he was," Mayweather said. "As far as with the big guys, the heavyweights? It's going to be hard. But he's a tough, rough competitor."