Over the past two days, the Los Angeles and Toronto press conferences on the Mayweather vs. McGregor world tour have provided the collective combat sports world with some of the best over-the-top trash talk for one of the most unique bookings the fight game has ever seen.
Both top names have had their moments, with many pundits giving Mayweather the first leg in L.A. by a hair, while “The Notorious” stormed back at yesterday’s second stop in Toronto to pick up what many thought was a landslide victory – at least in terms of smack talk.
The back-and-forth banter is for one reason, and that’s obviously to increase hype and anticipation for a bout that could legitimately be the biggest fight of all-time in any combat sport. But there are a few, right or wrong, who believe McGregor takes his smack talk too far to the point where it borders on racism against his African-American counterpart.
During both press conferences, McGregor used what many perceive to be a racist taunt by telling Mayweather to “dance for me, boy,” an insult some believe hearkens back to slavery in the United States. “Money” apparently isn’t fazed by it, however, as he told TMZ Sports there were only two kinds of ‘boys’:
“We all know there’s only 2 types of boys — a white boy and a cowboy — and I’m neither.”
The boxing legend expanded on his view of the situation, noting that he wasn’t angered by the situation, and instead chose to let it roll off of his shoulders in order to stay focused on the massive bout:
“Racism still exists but you know, I try to take something negative and turn it into something positive. A lot of people say that Conor McGregor is racist but I’m not worried about that.
“It is what it is. He’s entitled to feel how he wants to feel. I just want to stay in my zone and stay focused.”
So “Money” Mayweather isn’t letting McGregor’s supposedly racist trash talk get him down, yet this is far from the first time we’ve heard critics say “The Notorious” pushes the boundaries of prejudice and discrimination with his talk.
He infamously called Nate Diaz a “cholo gangster from the hood” at their now-legendary UFC 196 presser right after it was announced Diaz would replace former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos against McGregor, and said he wanted to turn Jose Aldo’s “favela in to a Reebok sweatshop” during the world tour for their scheduled UFC 189 blockbuster that Aldo ultimately pulled out of.
No matter the perception, McGregor is considered the best talker in MMA, and if his torrid pace continues, there’s a good chance he’ll be considered the best smack talker in boxing, too. The latter could quickly crashing down if he’s made to look foolish against Mayweather, however. In terms of this discussion, it would seem that many working parts come into play, and the gray area of whether or not people are taking this too seriously as opposed to if McGregor is actually being racist is quite the murky scene.
What do you think about his words? Are they actually racist, or are media members making too much of words used to sell a fight?
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