A former sparring partner for Conor McGregor doesn’t have high hopes for the UFC star when he steps inside the ring with Floyd Mayweather.
Chris van Heerden, who sparred with McGregor in May 2016, told TMZ Sports he landed shots “at will” on McGregor d…
A former sparring partner for Conor McGregor doesn’t have high hopes for the UFC star when he steps inside the ring with Floyd Mayweather.
Chris van Heerden, who sparred with McGregor in May 2016, told TMZ Sports he landed shots “at will” on McGregor during their session when Van Heerden was “out of camp, out of shape.” The former IBO welterweight champion added that even if McGregor can land a punch, Mayweather could easily withstand it.
After months of hype, McGregor and Mayweather confirmed on Instagram they’ll step inside the ring Aug. 26 in Las Vegas:
While considered a good striker, many question whether McGregor will be able to hold his own against Mayweather, who’s one of the best boxers in the sport’s history.
On Wednesday, Van Heerden also shared video of a sparring session with McGregor, who looked overmatched:
Assuming the video is from their May 2016 session, McGregor has had a lot of time to continue training and would presumably be more comfortable boxing at this point.
McGregor can train like a madman for the next two months, but he’s facing somebody who will have decades more experience in boxing. Bridging that gap is might be impossible, especially without Mayweather showing significant decline in his most victories over Manny Pacquiao and Andre Berto in 2015.
UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is acutely aware of the potential lawsuit he will face if he throws a kick at Floyd Mayweather in their August 26 boxing superfight, according to UFC President Dana White.
The long-rumoured crossover b…
UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is acutely aware of the potential lawsuit he will face if he throws a kick at Floyd Mayweather in their August 26 boxing superfight, according to UFC President Dana White.
The long-rumoured crossover bout between the pair has finally been made official, and White said it is clear in the contract McGregor, 28, faces financial sanctions if he calls on some of the weapons that make him so dangerous in MMA, per Martin Domin in the Mirror:
“That [kicking] will not happen; it’s in the contract. This is a boxing match under the Nevada commission under the rules of boxing. We talk about a guy of Floyd Mayweather’s value in the sport—the lawsuit if that ever happened…Conor loves money and he would lose a lot of money if that happened.“
Mayweather, 40, has been retired since September 2015, when he bowed out with a defeat of Andre Berto that took his professional record to 49-0.
However, there has been increasing clamour for Money to take on Irishman McGregor, and the American confirmed the bout, which will be fought at light-middleweight, on social media on Wednesday:
Mayweather is rightly regarded as one of the all-time greats of boxing. While he has fielded criticism from some quarters for being defensive and boring, his record is hard to argue with, and he is a five-division world champion.
McGregor, meanwhile, is the only fighter in UFC history to have held titles in two weight divisions simultaneously—he is the former featherweight champion.
His MMA record currently stands at 21-3 but has never boxed professionally.
Mayweather will be the heavy favourite for the August clash, but both will come out as winners in the end given they are expected to pocket as much as $100 million (£78.8 million) each, per Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports.
No, it’s not a misprint.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is fighting Conor McGregor.
The man formerly known as Pretty Boy will emerge from a hiatus to surpass Rocky Marciano and extend his pristine professional boxing record to 50-0. But the foe he selected for t…
No, it’s not a misprint.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is fighting Conor McGregor.
The man formerly known as Pretty Boy will emerge from a hiatus to surpass Rocky Marciano and extend his pristine professional boxing record to 50-0. But the foe he selected for the milestone achievement is someone few on the mainstream radar would have anticipated when he last exited the ring, back in September 2015.
The former five-division world champion went public on his Twitter account on Wednesday afternoon, posting a 10-second clip alongside the all-caps exclamation “IT’S OFFICIAL!!!” McGregor trollingly followed suit soon after, posting dueling headshots of himself and Mayweather’s father, Floyd Sr., with the exclamatory message “THE FIGHT IS ON.”
According to UFC President Dana White on SportsCenter, the fight will be held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Aug. 26, and though Mayweather has opened as a prohibitive favorite—the early line requires an $800 outlay to return $100 in profit, per OddsShark—it’s got the potential to draw the mainstream interest that fueled Mayweather’s 2015 bout with Manny Pacquiao to more than 4 million pay-per-view buys.
Details regarding the purse split for the August 26 fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor will not be made public anytime soon.
According to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, Mayweather Promotions’ Leonard Ellerbe told reporters Wednesday f…
Details regarding the purse split for the August 26 fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor will not be made public anytime soon.
According to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, Mayweather Promotions’ Leonard Ellerbe told reporters Wednesday financial parameters of the fight will be kept under wraps, in accordance with a confidentiality agreement that was signed by both parties.
“Everyone is happy,” Ellerbe added, per Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole.
Before the boxing match was officially set Wednesday for T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, UFC President Dana White tossed around several numbers publicly regarding payouts and the purse split.
During an April appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd (h/t MMA Fighting’s Shaun Al-Shatti), White estimated McGregor could make $75 million and Mayweather could earn a little more than $100 million “if the fight sells as well as I think it can.”
A month later, White suggested a 50-50 purse split would be “pretty fair.”
“I think this thing does, conservatively, between 2-1/2 and 4 million buys,” White said in May, per MMA Fighting’s Marc Raimondi. “Other people think more. … And this thing will kill it, globally. Conor McGregor and the UFC are huge in Brazil, huge in Australia, massive in the UK and other parts of Europe.”
On Wednesday, White said a pay-per-view price has yet to be hammered out. However, Helwani noted White’s answer lent credence to the belief that the final figure will be closer to the $100 fans had to pay for Mayweather’s fight against Manny Pacquiao.
According to ESPN.com’s Darren Rovell and Dan Rafael, the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight—which featured a 60-40 purse split in favor of Money—was the most lucrative fight in history. All told, the clash generated nearly $600 million in revenue.
Let’s get something out of the way before we truly get started—UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is not going to beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a pure boxing match. There is no chance, not even the much discussed puncher’s variety…
Let’s get something out of the way before we truly get started—UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is not going to beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a pure boxing match. There is no chance, not even the much discussed puncher’s variety.
Mayweather, the greatest fighter of his generation, has spent two decades making the best boxers in the world look foolish even pretending they belong in the same ring with him. McGregor’s vaunted left hand is just one of many formidable tools he’s spent a lifetime learning to take away.
Remember Arturo Gatti, the blood and guts boxer whose trilogy with Micky Ward earned him a place in the Hall of Fame? The same Gatti who was a world champion in multiple weight classes? He tried Mayweather once and looked so hopelessly outclassed that it was a mercy when the fight was finally stopped. And this was a man who’d devoted his entire life to the sweet science and become an elite competitor in an unforgiving sport.
Mayweather is more than a mere boxer. He’s the best to strap on a pair of gloves in 30 years. McGregor, despite his unprecedented success in the UFC’s Octagon, has never stepped into the ring as a professional.
In a perfect world, that would be enough to halt this spectacle in its tracks. But, in case you haven’t been paying attention to the news, we don’t live in a perfect world. We live in a world where celebrities think the Earth is flat and someone invented a juicer that connects to the internet.
In that world, our world, this fight is the perfect athletic contest for our time.
Sure, McGregor doesn’t stand much of a chance. Neither did anyone else Floyd fought. He’s the Golden State Warriors of boxing, and McGregor is a really talented handball player trying to figure out a brand new game. He’s gifted but inexperienced and in over his head.
What Conor lacks in fistic prowess, he more than makes up for in verbal dexterity. Maybe Mayweather will be able to deftly circle away from his powerful left straight and make him pay every time he charges recklessly in desperate search of a miracle.
So what?
McGregor may not have Floyd’s skills inside the squared circle, but he has a preternatural gift for making people care about everything he does. The Irishman has been compared to every loquacious boxer up to and including Muhammad All for good reason—he was born with a silver tongue and will surely use it to make this the most talked about fight in modern history.
In his UFC career, McGregor has been required to shoulder almost the entire promotional burden. His opponents have either been incapable of generating much buzz on their own merits or lacking the requisite verbal prowess to effectively utilize the media platforms McGregor so easily attracts.
That, of course, isn’t the case with Mayweather. Together with HBO, Mayweather essentially created modern boxing promotion with the trendsetting 24/7 series. The reality television staple helped Mayweather craft his “Money” persona, a fame-hungry capitalist character who fans either loved or hated. It’s hard not to see echoes of Mayweather every time McGregor posts a gaudy new purchase on Instagram or tweets about the ludicrous money he’s paid every time he steps in the UFC’s Octagon.
Now, at long last, the student will face the master.
For McGregor, it’s a rags to riches story that almost defies belief. A decade ago he was on the dole in Dublin, an Irishman with an unlikely dream of UFC stardom. Along the way he discovered The Secretand visualized the kind of success that was unprecedented in MMA’s short history.
He’s been the UFC champion in two weight classes simultaneously, made enough money to live comfortably for the rest of his life and will soon cash a check with so many zeroes that generations of McGregors will want for nothing.
Mayweather, who turned 40 in February, is one win away from breaking Rocky Marciano’s record and finishing his career at a perfect 50-0. McGregor has talked openly about walking away from fighting to preserve his health and mental faculties. It’s fitting, in a way, that the two biggest draws in their sports’ respective histories would end their days in the ring against each other.
Fans and media will have two choices about how they respond to this fight. They can either cross their arms, harrumph and write a series of grumpy tweets complaining about the sanctity of legalized fist fighting, or they can take a deep breath, smile and enjoy the show.
I’m grinning already.
Jonathan Snowden covers combat sports for Bleacher Report.
While boxing and MMA fans anticipate the mega-showdown between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor, the 49-0 boxer is already looking ahead.
On Wednesday, Darren Rovell of ESPN reported Mayweather has already filed for five trademarks for a 50-0 …
While boxing and MMA fans anticipate the mega-showdown between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor, the 49-0 boxer is already looking ahead.
On Wednesday, Darren Rovell of ESPN reported Mayweather has already filed for five trademarks for a 50-0 record.
This comes after Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports initially reported the much-anticipated battle between Mayweather and MMA star McGregor will be on Aug. 26. Mayweather confirmed the bout on his Instagram page.
Iole noted the fight, which will take place in Las Vegas, could pay each fighter more than $100 million.
The major payday surely helped Mayweather’s decision-making process even though he retired in Sept. 2015 after defeating Andre Berto and improving his record to 49-0. What’s more, another victory would give Mayweather the round number of 50 wins in 50 tries and move him past the great 49-0 Rocky Marciano record-wise.
The opportunity to move to 50-0 and beat a notable name like McGregor in the process clearly resonated with Mayweather considering he’s already applied to trademark the record.