Deron Williams vs Frank Gore fight officially an exhibition bout

Saturday night’s fight between former NBA All-Star Deron Williams and former NFL Pro Bowler Frank Gore was originally expected to be fully sanctioned for four rounds, but while the bout is going on as planned on the Paul vs Woodley 2 undercard, it is now officially an exhibition fight.

It has been announced that “The Florida State Athletic Commission has sanctioned the fight as an exhibition bout,” and for whatever it’s worth, there will be judges — Efrain Lebron, Michael Ross, and Michelle Walker-Serrano, all from Florida — scoring the contest.

But as an exhibition, the fight will not count toward anyone’s records, which is fair enough, since neither Williams nor Gore have professional boxing records and aren’t likely to start developing one.

This doesn’t necessarily mean the fight will be half-speed or contested like a sparring contest or anything, like we saw with Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jr or Floyd Mayweather vs Logan Paul; the Triller Fight Club bout between Evander Holyfield and Vitor Belfort in September was officially an “exhibition,” and that didn’t stop it from being a shambolic embarrassment with a first round stoppage.

So it’s not quite clear what exactly Williams vs Gore is going to look like tonight, but it’ll happen. That’s the promise. And I dare say my bold pick of a four-round draw is lookin’ pretty good.