After seemingly endless back-and-forth and pot shots thrown in the media and rumors of dates and contracts being worked on, the official announcement that Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor would actually be getting in the ring together still managed to sneak up on us all.
On Wednesday afternoon, whispers that Mayweather Promotions had booked a Las Vegas venue for August 26 quickly became an official announcement from all parties involved that the super fight between the greatest boxer of the past two decades and the biggest star in MMA history would meet at T-Mobile Arena on Showtime PPV.
The suddenness of the fight date is why this announcement surprised so many. Pay-per-view bouts usually call for many months-long promotions in order to create the proper level of hype for the event, but this event needs little in the way of added hype. No one needs to be told to tune in to the build up for Mayweather and McGregor after the two have spent the better part of eight months treating every public appearance like it was already part of a promotion.
Mayweather has made it well known that the only fight he would be willing to take was McGregor, and McGregor likewise insisted that Mayweather be the top priority for Dana White and UFC, who were stunningly accommodating to their fighter’s seemingly ridiculous demand to go try his hand at boxing. And so, here we are, suddenly two and a half months away from a massive boxing match between one of the greatest boxers of all-time, who is undefeated as a professional and was so lacking in competition that he simply walked away while on top and still in tremendous physical shape, and one of the UFC’s most lethal strikers who has never boxed as a professional.
It sounds ridiculous on paper, and likely it’s just as ridiculous in reality. It’s a different sport than what McGregor competes in, although a relative to it, and he’s going in against someone that the best boxers in the world could never take down. No one will give McGregor much of a chance in this fight, as he’s a +700 underdog to Mayweather (-1100) at Vegas sportsbooks. That is, except for Mayweather, who has noted McGregor’s power and said he’s a legitimate threat to knock him out.
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And thus we get to the real reason this fight will be consumed by millions and rake in hundreds of millions of dollars in ticket revenue and pay-per-view purchases. Floyd Mayweather is the greatest defensive boxer in history. His place on the all-time list can be debated, but I have no qualms calling him the best defensive fighter ever. His movement in the ring is impeccable. He’s rarely cornered and his hand, foot, and head speed make him nearly impossible to hit cleanly when he has space in the ring. Mayweather knows this and has known it for a long time. He’s never shy to boast that he’s the best, but he waits until after the fight to tell you — and show you — that he’s untouchable.
That’s because Floyd’s second greatest gift as a boxer behind his defense is his ability to promote his own fights. He’s not going to tell you the other guy won’t land any clean power shots and that he’s going to nickel and dime his opponent to death, because, while that might be the reality, that’s not what puts people in the seats.
Floyd sells you danger and excitement, and provides little of it in the ring (your exception to said rule would be Mayweather-Maidana I back in May 2014).
With Conor McGregor, Mayweather has to do far less of the heavy lifting in promoting the fight, because where Floyd is the best self-promoter in boxing, McGregor is the best self-promoter in MMA. From now until the first bell rings on August 26 in T-Mobile Arena, Mayweather and McGregor will be must-see TV. Press conferences will feature trash-talk the likes of which we may have never seen, stare downs will inevitably turn chippy, and the lead-in All-Access shows will be great television.
That’s what we know for a fact, and that build up will put butts in seats at T-Mobile and have eyeballs glued to TV screens that night. However, when the two men step toe-to-toe in that ring, and Mayweather spends 12 rounds outclassing McGregor by simply being the superior boxer, people shouldn’t be surprised or upset.
Yahoo! boxing writer Chris Mannix called this one of the great mismatches in professional sports history, and he might not be all that far off.
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Everything about this fight is tilted in Mayweather’s favor. For one, it’s a boxing match, which has favored Mayweather 49 out of 49 times in the past against any opponent. However, the details of this bout only further point to a Mayweather domination. The fight will be at 154 pounds, which might help McGregor make weight better than at 147 pounds, but the UFC fighter accustomed to 4 oz. mitts will have to strap on 10 oz. boxing gloves and try to hit the most elusive boxer in history. Best of luck.
On top of that, McGregor has looked tired when his UFC fights have worn on beyond the first two or three rounds. While those are five minute rounds and boxing rounds are three, making this bout a 12-round ordeal, rather than eight or 10 as a non-title fight can be, further benefits Mayweather, who can slip and slide McGregor in the early rounds to avoid that dreaded knockout blow and pick him apart as the UFC star slows in the middle to late rounds and cruise to his 50th victory.
The scene in Las Vegas for this bout will be like nothing Sin City has ever seen for a fight week. I’ve been in Vegas for massive UFC events and I’ve been there during a Mayweather fight weekend, and they are two very different but similarly wild crowds. Those two worlds will collide on the weekend of August 26.
From now until then, we can enjoy the spectacle and fans that make the (very expensive) pilgrimage to Las Vegas for the bout should absolutely enjoy the party, because the possible 47 minutes from opening bell to closing bell of this bout will likely be far from the most entertaining part of it all.
