Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor will step to the scales on Friday on the eve of one of the biggest sporting spectacles in recent memory.
There is an enormous amount of hype surrounding this boxing match, which will be McGregor‘s first and Mayweather’s 50th in a so far undefeated and wildly successful career.
To some, the event is farcical, to others, pure entertainment, and to still others an intriguing test to see if McGregor‘s unwavering confidence and mixed martial arts mastery can successfully translate to boxing.
McGregor surely has a greater repertoire of fighting skills, but only one area of focus will be available to him when he steps into the ring against Mayweather on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The weigh-in, which also takes place at the T-Mobile Arena, will be the last time the two controversial fighters face off before they settle their feud in the ring. Sparks may fly considering recent comments made by the brash pair.
Here’s how you can watch the weigh-in and the superfight.
Mayweather vs. McGregor Fight Info
Date: Saturday, August 26
Time: 9 p.m. ET (main card)
Location: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
TV: Pay-per-view ($99.95) Showtime
Live Stream (pay-per-view): UFC.tv, ShowtimePPV.com
Mayweather vs. McGregor Weigh-In Info
Date: Friday, August 25
Time: 6 p.m. ET/PT
Live Stream: Showtime YouTube (or SHO.com)
The match will take place at 154 pounds, but Mayweather apparently doesn’t think McGregor is going to be able to get under that threshold.
In a video interview with FightHype.com, Mayweather questioned the 29-year-old Irishman’s fitness level.
“Conor McGregor is extremely heavy right now,” he said in a video published Tuesday. He added he believes McGregor is around 164 pounds.
McGregor didn’t take kindly to these comments and said it was a sign that Mayweather was looking for an excuse before Saturday’s contest.
“He needs to shut his mouth,” McGregor said, per USA Today‘s Martin Rogers. “It is a fool of a thing. Let him keep praying, praying for weight, for fatigue, praying for me to take a backward step. All he is doing is praying, but he is praying to the new god of boxing.”
In his last UFC fight against Eddie Alvarez, McGregor weighed in at 154.4 pounds, under the 155-pound limit, per CBS Sports’ Brandon Wise. However, in two fights against Nate Diaz last year, McGregor weighed in at 168 pounds each time.
McGregor is a naturally bigger guy than Mayweather—he’s also an inch taller and has a 74-inch wingspan compared to Money’s 72, per BoxRec—but for a fighter who is so in tune with his body and has worked incredibly hard to be successful, there should be little doubt that he is going to miss the weight.
No one should be worried about Mayweather staying under the 154-pound limit, as he fought for much of his career in the 140s at welterweight and always carried his weight comfortably. Instead, the concern with Mayweather is age sapping him of the split-second and inch-perfect timing he uses to dodge punches.
McGregor is known for finishing off his UFC opponents with speed and power, and he seems intent on letting people know he’s capable of making it a supremely quick fight on Saturday.
However, the prevailing wisdom is that Mayweather’s mastery of defense and unblemished 49-0 track record in the sport will see him through to another win, whether it’s on the cards or via a knockout.
Mayweather may be 40 years old and hasn’t fought in nearly two years, but as the Los Angeles Times‘ Dylan Hernandez noted, this fight could be a dangerous one for the boxing novice McGregor, and it’s potentially one that the Nevada Athletic Commission should not have approved:
“That’s not a history. A history would be a record of actual fights. But creating that history would almost certainly have imperiled the showdown with Mayweather. If McGregor had taken a couple of tuneup fights and looked as amateurish as he is expected to look Saturday night, he wouldn’t have been able to maintain the illusion of having a chance.
“The NAC made all of that a non-issue. Of the countless wagers that have been placed on the fight, none were as risky or as dangerous.”
There is of course enough belief in McGregor that for all Mayweather’s experience and skill, he’s only a -450 favorite against a man making his pro boxing debut, per OddsShark.com (as of Thursday).
But McGregor has enough power that he only needs a puncher’s chance. Of course, it stands to reason that a puncher’s chance is all he has.
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