Floyd Mayweather attends political rally in Zimbabwe

By Reuters

Former world champion boxer Floyd Mayweather attended a campaign event in Zimbabwe’s capital city Harare on Thursday.

The celebrity stunt is part of ruling party ZANU PF’s attempts to woo youth voters ahead of a general election next month.

“I’m happy to see Mayweather here in Zimbabwe…”

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has vowed to do, quote, “what we can to remain in power…”

Promising to revive an economy that has collapsed under his watch as he launched his bid for a second five-year term in June.

The youth vote is expected to be a crucial battlefield for the two main political parties, ZANU PF and the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).

Mayweather thrilled the crowd with a public workout at the event…

and watched three matches from some of Zimbabwe’s budding boxers.

Some young people attending the rally pledged to vote for ZANU PF.

“I’m registered to vote and I’m going to vote for President Emmerson Mnangagwa.”

Mnangagwa toppled independent Zimbabwe’s first president, Robert Mugabe, in a coup in 2017, which ended Mugabe’s 37-year rule.

He was hailed as a pragmatic leader shortly after taking power, but scored only a narrow win in the 2018 elections over the CCC’s Nelson Chamisa, who will face Mnangagwa again in August.

The election takes place amid a raging economic crisis, with high inflation and a currency that plunged more than 50% in June against the U.S. dollar.