Perhaps you’ve heard about it.
There’s this boxer, Floyd Mayweather Jr., and this mixed martial arts star, Conor McGregor, and they don’t seem to like each other all that much.
They spent several days telling each other that earlier this summer, touchi…
Perhaps you’ve heard about it.
There’s this boxer, Floyd Mayweather Jr., and this mixed martial arts star, Conor McGregor, and they don’t seem to like each other all that much.
They spent several days telling each other that earlier this summer, touching down in four cities and covering thousands of miles while engaging in the most vulgar, provocative and microphone-friendly display this side of a presidential press conference.
They’ve since retreated to neutral corners, emerging occasionally via social media and open workouts to let the other guys know just what sort of trouble he’s in come Aug. 26 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
It’s the sort of once-in-a-generation tide that’s raised all web-based and traditional media boats, thanks to myriad storylines that include training-camp intrigue, mind-numbing financials and old-fashioned boxing odds and glove controversies.
Take a look at the list and revel in the real news.
The Mount Rushmore of upsets.
Regardless of your generation or sport of choice, the top candidates for chiseled-granite immortality can probably be plucked from a similar crop of wannabes.
The New York Jets in Super Bowl III.
North Carolina State in th…
The Mount Rushmore of upsets.
Regardless of your generation or sport of choice, the top candidates for chiseled-granite immortality can probably be plucked from a similar crop of wannabes.
The New York Jets in Super Bowl III.
North Carolina State in the NCAA Final Four.
The U.S. men’s hockey team in the 1980 Winter Olympics.
And Buster Douglas in Tokyo against Mike Tyson.
Their images—Joe Namath’s finger wag, Jim Valvano’s hug pursuit, Jim Craig’s flag-draped search for his father and Iron Mike’s loopy reach for his mouthpiece—have for good reason lingered for decades past their final buzzers and bells.
But they all might be pushed aside come Aug. 27.
Should ConorMcGregor fulfill his bratty Irish prophecy and actually land a knockout blow to the chin of unbeaten Hall of Fame-bound Floyd Mayweather, the next-day resonance from Las Vegas could reshape perceptions of upsets—and boxing itself—for several years to come.
Forget the odds, which have tangibly narrowed since the idea of the bout was initially floated, and just imagine the reaction you’d have if the superstar known as Money was laid out for a 10-count.
Mayweather, for all his faults, is a five-division world champion who’s won each and every one of his 49 bouts since turning pro as a precocious 19-year-old in 1996.
Not only has his run equaled the signature numerical dominance established by ex-heavyweight champ Rocky Marciano from 1947 to 1955, but only one judge in his 23 distance fights has ever turned in a scorecard favoring his opponent.
That was Tom Kaczmarek, whose slight 115-113 lean toward Oscar De La Hoya in 2007 made that fight the only split decision on Mayweather’s otherwise unchallenged resume.
McGregor, meanwhile, has never boxed as a pro or amateur, rendering the very idea he can compete with a functioning Mayweather—let alone actually beat him, even at age 40—almost comical.
If it happens, though, the laughter from the “boxing is dead” crowd will be deafening.
And the scars incurred by the “boxing is king” crowd might be permanent.
“I am no stranger to being the underdog on paper. I am a seasoned veteran and I am confident that I am the better man. After Saturday, August 26, I will be a god of boxing.”
Though some would dismiss a contrary result as a fluke, or try to rationalize it with claims that a too-old Mayweather didn’t take the challenge seriously, it’d be hard to come up with a substantive argument that’d override the casual fan’s image of the era’s greatest boxer losing to a guy in his first fight.
To that end, too, no promotional hyperbole or manufactured menace would prevent UFC boss Dana White and Co. from claiming—with powerful evidence—that his octagonal empire is the gold standard of combat sports and boxing is little more than a less entertaining, four-sided diversion.
If Mayweather wins, McGregor can go back to the cage and dare his conqueror to take a similar risk and step outside of his comfort zone. But if McGregor wins, the debate is over before it begins and it’d be a long time—and it’d take a generational talent—to get the playing field anywhere close to level again.
Not exactly the best news for the likes of De La Hoya, a longtime Mayweather enemy whose operation is putting on a long-awaited middleweight fight between Canelo Alvarez and GennadyGolovkin three Saturdays after Mayweather-McGregor leaves town.
It’s been hard enough for those championship-caliber 160-pounders to get noticed since the Aug. 26 spectacle was officially announced and the subsequent press tour commenced, but if McGregor is 1-0 come that Sunday morning, the Golden Boy might want to consider a gig with a little more security.
Something in the communications department at the White House, perhaps.
“If you look at this thing and you look at how big this fight is and you look at how big these athletes are that are involved in this fight, if Conor does knock Floyd Mayweather out, he is the biggest athlete on earth,” White said, via MMA Junkie. “He’s the biggest athlete (on this planet), on other planets—he’s the biggest athlete. It’s pretty crazy.”
The best boxer of his generation. The most recognizable mixed martial artist in the world.
An international publicity tour with enough vitriol, insensitivity and contrived, microphone-friendly menace to leave media outlets of all stripes tittering like…
The best boxer of his generation. The most recognizable mixed martial artist in the world.
An international publicity tour with enough vitriol, insensitivity and contrived, microphone-friendly menace to leave media outlets of all stripes tittering like six-year-olds on a birthday cake high.
Ladies and gentlemen, we give you Mayweather-McGregor.
Their Aug. 26 get-together seems destined to stretch the outer limits of internet capacity, and there is no shortage of numbers to pore over while preparing for the circus.
We’ve assembled a batch of the best ones here. So sit back, relax and get yourself ready for the fun.
0: In case you’re unaware, it’s the number of times McGregor, on the verge of facing a consensus all-time great, has stepped into a ring for an officially sanctioned amateur or professional boxing match. He has, however, had 24 mixed martial arts matches, winning 21 and scoring 18 stoppages.
5: Number of professional weight classes in which Mayweather, who began punching for pay at age 19, has won sanctioned world championships. He earned his first belt, at 130 pounds, in 1998, and has since added jewelry at 135 (2002), 140 (2005), 147 (2006) and 154 (2007).
50-0: The pro record Mayweather would reach with a win, eclipsing the 49-0 mark established by heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano between 1947 and 1955. No other widely recognized world champion has retired with a better record with zero losses and zero draws.
TMT50 and TBE50: The trademarks applied for by Mayweather Productions with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, per ESPN.com. TMT is short for “The Money Team,” while TBE stands for “The Best Ever.”
19.5 million: The number of buys Mayweather has helped generate as a pay-per-view fighter, including the three most-purchased bouts in history—2.4 million against Oscar De La Hoya in 2007, 2.2 million against Canelo Alvarez in 2013 and 4.6 million against Manny Pacquiao in 2015.
$600 million: The total projected gross revenue for the bout, according to ESPN’s Darren Rovell, which would place it second only to the aforementioned Mayweather-Pacquiao show two years ago.
$235: The proceeds of the public assistance check cashed by McGregor, according to Yahoo Sports, shortly before his UFC debut in 2013.
$4.8 million: The price tag for the rare luxury car, a KoenigseggCCXRTrevita, that Mayweather added to his collection in 2015, per Rolling Stone. The magazine said the ride maxes out at 254 mph and goes from 0 to 60 in 2.9 seconds.
154 pounds: The agreed-upon weight for the Aug. 26 fight. Mayweather, most recently a full-time welterweight, has previously ventured into the junior middleweight for defeats of De La Hoya, Alvarez and Miguel Cotto. His heaviest weigh-in number was 151 pounds against Cotto. McGregor, meanwhile, fought at a 170-pound limit for a stoppage loss against substitute opponent Nate Diaz in 2016.
11, 1 and 2: The chronological and statutory advantages—in age (29 to Mayweather’s 40), height (5’9″ to Mayweather’s 5’8″) and reach (74 inches to Mayweather’s 72)—that McGregor will have when he enters the T-Mobile Arena.
2,170 days: The length of time, come fight night, that will have elapsed since Mayweather last scored an inside-the-distance victory, via fourth-round KO against Victor Ortiz.
13 seconds: The amount of time it took McGregor to stop Jose Aldo for his signature UFC win, capturing the organization’s featherweight (145 pounds) championship in December 2015. He’s since picked up the UFC lightweight (155 pounds) belt as well.
22 seconds: Duration of the sparring video released by the UFC showing McGregor working with former two-division world champion Paulie Malignaggi. Malignaggi has since left the McGregor camp and claimed on social media that the clip, including what McGregor labeled a knockdown, wasn’t at all representative of the 36 total minutes of sparring.
$150: The wager, according to OddsShark, required to make a $100 profit on a Mayweather victory against McGregor inside the 12-round distance. A Mayweather win by decision, incidentally, would yield $230 for a $100 bet.
$325: The profit available for a $100 bet on McGregor, again according to OddsShark, in the event the Irishman pulls off the upset. For comparison’s sake, that profit number was at $950 when the fight was first rumored last fall.
It was the permission slip heard ’round the world.
When the Nevada Athletic Commission approved an appeal from the Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor camps Wednesday that’ll allow the fighters to use eight-ounce gloves for their imminent get-together …
It was the permission slip heard ’round the world.
When the Nevada Athletic Commission approved an appeal from the Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor camps Wednesday that’ll allow the fighters to use eight-ounce gloves for their imminent get-together in Las Vegas, those backing the Irishman puffed their chests out proudly.
Despite the safety-centric concerns of the Association of Ringside Physicians, the commission agreed to set aside the requirement—on a one-time-only basis—that 154-pound fighters use 10-ounce gloves. And because the eight-ounce mitts are a mite closer to the four-ouncers McGregor has used while building a fearsome reputation in the UFC’s Octagon, it’s been spun as a victory for Team Notorious.
But before you tap out the 401(k) for some extra pro-Conor betting cash, here’s a tip:
Don’t.
Because once the bell rings, it won’t mean a thing.
Need a reason why? Consider the source.
Remember that the suggestion for the glove switch came on Instagram from Mayweather himself, and after a two-decade run in which he’s staked out A-side high ground on nearly every negotiable item, it’s not exactly in his nature to make things easier on the guy he’s stepping in with.
He is, though, a savvy businessman and promoter, and he’s smart enough to realize the appearance of a concession—even a competitively meaningless one—is a gesture well delivered if it convinces even one casual viewer that it’s worth dropping $89.95 to see if an upset is more possible come Aug. 26.
In fact, the glove charity seems just the latest suggestion of vulnerability for the man known as Money, who indicated at a recent media workout that McGregor will arrive with myriad advantages.
“I know I’m going to see a fighter, a warrior,” Mayweather said. “I’m not going to overlook him. On paper, everything leans toward Conor McGregor. We know he’s taller, we know he has a longer reach, we know youth is on his side, everyone is saying power is on his side. I never said he’s going to beat me. I’m going to tell the people what I truly believe and what it is on paper.”
Upon further review, though, it reeks of nonsense.
While few would argue that McGregor is the power guy in the fight, simply dropping a little glove weight won’t make it any easier for him to crack the Mayweather defensive code that’s bamboozled championship-caliber boxers from 130 to 154 pounds. And even at 40 years old and coming off a two-year layoff, it’s no stretch to say an old Floyd remains a quantum leap superior to the sparring partners—Chris van Heerden and Paulie Malignaggi—the MMA star has clearly struggled to subdue.
This kinder Mayweather comes just in time to revive a publicity machine that glowed white-hot as the fighters kicked off their international press tour, which veered toward juvenile and offensive as the chatter campaign continued unedited from Los Angeles to Toronto to Brooklyn to London.
Recent reports of flagging ticket sales haven’t helped, perhaps motivating Mayweather toward additional allowances that would boost McGregor’s chances in the minds of fans. One of the reasons for the glove concession was to increase the perception that this fight could have a violently fan-friendly result.
“When it’s something of this magnitude, this is not just a fight,” Mayweather said.
“This is an event. I think we both owe the fans, as well as the public and everyone tuning in, excitement. I can say that after the fight is over on Aug. 26, everyone is going to be happy.”
No one more so than the respective fighters’ tax attorneys.
But when it comes to a real change in the competitive dynamic, it’s a bunch of blarney.
By any measure, Conor McGregor enters his Aug. 26 boxing match against Floyd Mayweather Jr. as a massive underdog.
As of this writing, Mayweather is a -500 favorite to McGregor’s +375 (bet $500 to win $100 or bet $100 to win $375), but t…
By any measure, Conor McGregor enters his Aug. 26 boxing match against Floyd Mayweather Jr. as a massive underdog.
As of this writing, Mayweather is a -500 favorite to McGregor’s +375 (bet $500 to win $100 or bet $100 to win $375), but the line hardly reflects the actual odds at OddsShark. Oddsmakers opened Mayweather as a -2500 favorite; McGregor was a +1100 underdog.
But a historic level of wagering on McGregor has driven the price so low as to be almost unbelievable, especially if you consider Mayweather is a virtual lock.
Mayweather’s average line over the past decade is roughly -600. That’s the same as the current line against McGregor, of course, but you must remember that Mayweather averaged -600 while facing world-class boxers like Oscar De La Hoya, Canelo Alvarez and Manny Pacquiao.
Those boxers had long and storied careers before they stepped in the ring with Mayweather; McGregor has zero professional or amateur boxing bouts.
Make no mistake: This is one of the most lopsided fights in combat sports history. Even with the standard boxing practice of feeding cans to top prospects to build up their names, the idea of an undefeated, legendary boxer facing a debutant is unheard of.
In fact, if not for the greed of the Nevada State Athletic Commission—and its unique trait of bending over backward for Mayweather no matter the circumstance—this fight would not even be sanctioned. It’s only happening because it’s big money, and Nevada never turns down big money.
We’ve established that Mayweather vs. McGregor is a historically lopsided fight. What if McGregor wins? It would be the biggest upset in combat sports history, without question.
With that in mind, let’s take a walk through the history books and look at some of the other biggest upsets in both boxing and MMA history.
A sure way to start an argument between boxing and mixed martial arts fans is to ask one simple question.
“What if?”
What if a top mixed martial artist stepped in the boxing ring to take on a world-class boxer? Or what if the boxer stepped in the Octag…
A sure way to start an argument between boxing and mixed martial arts fans is to ask one simple question.
“What if?”
What if a top mixed martial artist stepped in the boxing ring to take on a world-class boxer? Or what if the boxer stepped in the Octagon?
It’s an argument as old as combat sports itself. Before MMA sprang to life in the 1990s, the debate raged between boxing and pro wrestling fans. Which sport had the toughest athletes?
Promoters tried to capitalize on the discussion—most notably with the debacle between Muhammad Ali and Antonio Inoki in 1976—but the scripted environment of pro wrestling offered few answers.
Now, with the upcoming boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor, fans finally have their first opportunity to see high-level fighters from both sports facing off.
To celebrate Mayweather vs. McGregor’s “fantasy turned reality” vibe, we’re going to name seven other dream boxing vs. MMA fights we wish we could’ve seen.
The Mount Rushmore of upsets.