Jarvis Khattri was just 21 years old when he ended up in the surprise sparring session of his life.
The British YouTuber-turned-boxer, best known as just Jarvis, found fame streaming Call of Duty and Fortnite before crossing over into the boxing world.
After winning his first bout against Michael Le, he began to take the sport more seriously and through his trainer’s connection to Mayweather Boxing Club coach, Otis Pimpleton, he travelled to Las Vegas for an experience not many boxers receive.
Jarvis was able to train at the iconic gym where Mayweather honed his craft for many years in his prime, gaining valuable knowledge and an incredible experience.
However, on one morning in early 2023, the 1-0 YouTuber-turned-boxer realised he had in fact stepped into the lion’s den.
Jarvis explained to talkSPORT.com: “Just one day Otis was telling me, ‘Yo, we got some sparring for you.’ He didn’t really give me too much of what was going on.
“I was like, ‘Okay, I’m on my way.’ I headed over and I see a bunch of cars there, so many people in the gym, more than usual.
“I’m kind of confused and then I see Floyd getting his hands wrapped. I was like, ‘Okay, Floyd’s here, he’s training.’
“And then Otis told me, ‘Yep, you’re sparring Floyd.’
“I was like, ‘Okay, this is happening. This is real.’ So I got my wraps on, had a quick little warm up and just kind of got thrown in there and got beat up. But yeah, I had a great time.”
Since retiring from professional boxing in 2017, Mayweather has been on a global tour of unofficial exhibition bouts in which he’s travelled the world facing overmatched foes including celebrities and YouTubers, outboxed them, taunted them, beat them up, and earned eight figures for doing so.
In early 2023, Mayweather was readying himself to fight Aaron Chalmers in the UK, hence his decision to spar Jarvis.
What the Brit didn’t know, though, was that the entire session was set to later be posted on the American’s social media.
“It’s one thing when someone’s talking s*** to you and you can hit them,” Jarvis said, “But when it’s someone like Floyd where you can’t see his punches or he can move out of the way in a split second, it’s hard.
“But, you know, it was fun. I had a smile on my face the whole time.”
Asked how Mayweather was when the cameras switched off, Jarvis concluded: “Yeah, he’s a really good guy.
“He gave me some good advice on my upcoming fight. And he actually called me before my fight against Tom Zanetti.
“He gave me some tips to use and just supported me. So it’s crazy to me.”
Jarvis is now 4-1 as a YouTuber-turned-boxer and set to return to action on the Misfits Qatar Super Card as he takes on Ben Williams on Thursday night.
“He’s a good boxer for sure,” Jarvis said of his opponent, “He’s got some experience.
“But I would say he hasn’t really fought a high calibre of opponents. His opponents have been much easier than, say, some of the guys I’ve fought.
“So I think I have him in experience in that sense and he’s going to see that on Thursday night.”
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