Floyd Mayweather Fires Referee in Middle of John Gotti III Rematch

You can't knock Floyd Mayweather 's skills in the ring -- as a boss, anyway, because while he was boxing John Gotti III , he fired the referee ... bringing in fresh eyes when he didn't like a call.

While Saturday night's fight in Mexico City was just an exhibition, it was a highly anticipated rematch. Fans weren't exactly loving the action, or lack thereof, in the 2nd round ... when Floyd uncorked a punch that Gotti complained was a rabbit punch -- an illegal blow to the back of the head.

When referee Hector Afu penalized Mayweather for the right hook, the 47-year-old fighter got pissed and started waving him off ... gesturing for Afu to get out of the ring. After a brief exchange of heated words between the boxer and ref, Afu got the hell outta Dodge!

It's unclear what Floyd said, but just like that, a new ref quickly jumped into the ring ... and the fight resumed. For what it's worth, the announcers all seemed to agree Floyd's punch was fully legal.

As it turns out, Floyd going toe-to-toe with the ref was the best action of the night. There were no knockdowns, and no memorable flurries of punches. At least, the first Mayweather-Gotti fight ended with a wild brawl when Gotti III was disqualified for holding too much.

Saturday night there was no official scoring for the exhibition, so fans didn't even get an official winner declared ... although, the announcers agreed Floyd dominated.

Fans booed the lack of boxing action all night, but at least they got to see a ref get Jerry Maguire'd! 😆