Mayweather vs McGregor: The trappings of a superfight

How much is money worth? On August 26th a wholly unique fight will take place when Floyd Mayweather (49-0-0) will face Conor McGregor (0-0-0) in a boxing match. When first hearing the idea of the fight, people laughed. Not anymore, at least not for the same reason. Let’s take a look at the players in this first time superfight.

Conor McGregor

Take a moment to marvel at this guy’s confidence. The fight is his brainchild. When Conor first started talking about it, as only he can, no except maybe Mayweather took it seriously. But it crept closer and closer to reality as all the decision makers realized exactly how much money they could be looking at.

Despite facing an assured loss, Conor has the most to gain out of anyone. He’s being estimated to make around 100 million for the fight, blowing away his old paydays. That number elevates him to a new echelon, one shared by few. That poses the question that should be asked of everyone involved; what comes next? For Conor, the answer might be nothing. This massive payday should be enough to keep even a super spender like Conor lined for the rest of his life. He could very well retire early, always a smart thing for a fighter. But if Conor is even a fraction of the egomaniac he portrays himself as, he’ll keep himself on screen. And the way he does that is by talking and by fighting.

Who knows? Maybe someday he’ll get around to defending that Lightweight UFC title.

Floyd Mayweather

Conor thought of it, and Floyd made it happen. Following his decision win over Andre Berto in 2015, Floyd retired. It must have been an easy decision given how the fight was a disappointment moneywise. The fight came a close four months after Floyd’s last fight, the last superfight, against Manny Pacquiao.

When Mayweather versus Pacquiao happened so many years after the public originally clamored for it, it shattered pay per view records and proved people will wait for what they want and perhaps even pay more because of it. Unfortunately, the fight bored and when Pacquiao revealed he fought injured the bad taste in people’s mouths settled in for a stay. Bad news for boxing, but an aging Mayweather had already done it all. He retired after the Berto fight, with a line about how he was happy to match and not break the 49-0 record he now shared with boxing legend Rocky Marciano who he deeply respected.

So much for that.

Instead Floyd stayed true to his money moniker, and will now break the record by having another boring match with someone who has never boxed professionally. 50-0, and then back to retirement an even richer man.

Boxing and UFC

Strange bedfellows in a strange situation, both sports are being put on the sidelines by their respective biggest stars. Even worse, both those stars might not be fighting after this.

It’s telling that the forty year old and mostly retired Floyd is still boxing’s biggest star. Boxing suffers from a lack of interest from the casual public. With too many titles and too few stars, it’s easy to see how this superfight has eclipsed the short-term happenings of the sport. It’s doing so at an awkward time. Boxing’s other big fight, and the legitimate one, Gennady Golovkin versus Canelo Alvarez takes place a few short weeks later on September 16^th. There’s only so much money that will be spent on pay per views, and if Mayweather vs McGregor is another overhyped fight that angers the audience the later bout will suffer. Boxing will still get its huge payday, but they’ve mortgaged it against the future of their sport.

UFC is in the same boat, look for their pay per view numbers to take a hit following the Mayweather McGregor match. They’ll also have to deal with Conor afterwards. I’m not sure what their ideal situation for the fight is; if Conor get humiliated in a way that damages his star power, they’ve sacrificed their top draw in the church of their competitor who they’re currently much hotter than. If Conor becomes a bigger star, then his already enormous leverage increases. Because of their huge sale UFC is in a cost cutting mood, they don’t need their biggest bankable star to be taking an even bigger cut for his (supposed) future fights.

The vast majority of fighters are at the mercy of those they fight for, so it’s quite the turn to see two sports put on the sideline by their biggest stars. Hopefully fighters on the rise take notes as the two best hypemen in the game talk up as big a purse possible. Both boxing and UFC must be hoping for some new blood that can be turn into stars, stars that don’t have them over the barrel.

Sports Media

As said, this fight is all about the build. The point isn’t to see who the best boxer is, it’s to be amazed at the trash talking leading up to it. It borrows from pro wrestling more than boxing or mma. A key then is how and who will play along with the build. Will ESPN and friends prop up Conor and Floyd’s banter by playing along that everything is legit for the sake of pumping up their ratings? Or will the talking head hosts temper expectations of the fight to maintain their own credibility?

The build hasn’t started yet, but when you look at what people do for ratings I think the answer can be predicted.

At the top of the article, I asked what comes next. The answer all parties have put forward is: it doesn’t matter. What comes first is money and that’s all anyone is thinking about. For the individuals, Conor and Floyd, that’s a good enough answer. For the big companies, it’s short sighted.