Mayweather vs McGregor the money match

Floyd Mayweather comes out of retirement to take on Conor McGregor for a multimillion pound mega fight in Las Vegas.

In 1976 after Muhammed Ali had beaten Joe Fraizer he spent much of the next year taking on easy fights for large amounts of money. So when the opportunity of a super bout of the ridiculous was presented to him, a one-off special super fight with Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki, he accepted. Asked a by a reporter why, Ali, unashamedly said: “$6million, that’s why!”

Special rules were made and lots of money also as the two men spent fifteen confusing rounds fumbling about before a draw was called. The crowd showed their displeasure and pelted the two with whatever lay within reach and it went down as the most embarrassing moment of Ali’s career.

Four decades later the late champ is still considered boxing’s favourite son and another one-off super fight between different combative sport stars is happening.

‘It’s official’ was tweeted by Floyd Mayweather to end months of speculation. Two words in a simple statement to confirm a fight that was anything but.

The five weight, undefeated boxing champion will return to the ring to take on MMA star Conor McGregor in a 12 round bout on the 26th August at the T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas for what is possibly going to be the biggest pay per view event in history.

Indeed the financial aspect of this fight is astronomical and a big reason why it is not short of critics.

A few weeks ago Oscar De La Hoya wrote an open letter stating that the fight could hurt the sport because it is just a money making sideshow and that McGregor has no boxing pedigree.

Of course, he is right in the fact that McGregor is a novice boxer and has essentially agreed to step into the the ring of another sport with one of its greatest, but what de la Hoya fails to see is the joy of seeing sport stars out of their comfort zones.

Athletes moving into other sports is not something new, but few have quite the same attraction as Mayweather and McGregor. This is on a par with Michael Jordan taking up baseball and arguably more serious than Ali versus the wrestler.

If the rest of sport looked at it more optimistically it could open the doors to more one-off spectacles everywhere. Think of Roger Federer taking up table tennis, Usain Bolt in football or David Beckham running marathons, the novel possibilities are endless.

Despite the silly hype around this bout, there is an underlying notion of real thrill about it. Even in terms of MMA stature, although McGregor is the biggest name in the sport, only four years ago he was picking up welfare checks. His rise to superstardoom has been quick and by September, win, lose or draw he will be richer than anyone in MMA and most of those in boxing, but he is stepping into a ring with one of the most skilled men to ever do so. It is quite a gamble and he has clearly put more on the line by going into boxing and heading for the top man, which is arguably worth his big pay day.

Mayweather, on the other hand, has less of a challenge, although he is now 40 and putting an unbeaten record on the line.

The fight has been arranged by UFC Chairman Dana White, who seven years ago promoted a fight between former heavyweight boxing champion James Toney and UFC hall of famer Randy Couture. It was the opposite of McGregor-Mayweather, with the boxer going into the cage with disastrous results. All it took was for Couture to get Toney on his back and the fight was as good as over. Toney didn’t land a single punch and was out after only 3 minutes and 19 seconds.

One would hope McGregor would fare better moving to the ring rather than Mayweather into a cage and it would seem more likely given the formers boxing ability being the biggest asset in his MMA arsenal.

This won’t damage the sport or legacy of either participant, far from it, after all, Muhammed Ali is the greatest boxer of all time…….despite that ‘fight’ with a wrestler!