By Allan Fox: There is a great deal of talk around the internet about a potential fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor. The latest news rumors have Mayweather fighting McGregor on September 17 in Las Vegas, Nevada. If this fight does happen, it will take place in a boxing ring under the rules of the sport.
McGregor, who clearly has only rudimentary knowledge of the sport, will be hopelessly lost when the punches start flying. With both fighters wanting $100 million each minimum, the cost of the fight will almost surely be $100 on PPV. That’s a lot of money for fans to pay for a fight that could very well turn out to be a sick mismatch.
It would be the same way if Mayweather were to fight McGregor in an MMA fight. McGregor would have all the advantages due to his wrestling background. The negative thing about a fight between Mayweather and McGregor is the potential long-lasting ramifications of the fight for the sport of boxing. It could anger fans more than they already were for the ‘Fight of the Century’ last year between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
That was the fight were the prices were jacked up to $100 per household, and the ticket prices were increased to untold amounts. Despite the high cost of the fight, fans still dutifully purchased tickets and bout the fight on PPV thinking it would be a great fight. It wasn’t a great fight. Pacquiao and Mayweather looked like they were just going through the motions after getting huge guarantees of money for the fight.
It might be for the best that the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight not take place. If Mayweather wants to do the sport of boxing a favor, he won’t fight McGregor. He can fight him, but it would be better if he fought him in an MMA fight where fewer boxing fans would be willing to pay to see something like that because they would know it would involve wrestling and submissions holds, and that kind of stuff is totally boring for many boxing fans to watch.
I think it would be better for the sport if Mayweather just stays retired rather than coming back and scraping together fights against guys that have no business being in a boxing ring. It would be hardly fair for Mayweather to fight a guy like McGregor because he wouldn’t know what he’s doing.
If you want proof of that take a look at McGregor’s efforts at sparring boxer Chris Van Heerden on Youtube. McGregor was easily handled by Van Heerden, who looked like he was taking it easy on him the entire time not to make him look bad. McGregor did look bad. It’s hard to believe in watching that video that McGregor is one of the better stand up fighters in UFC because he looks like he’s boxed a round in his life.
The chances are that even if Mayweather does wind up facing McGregor on September 17 like many people think will happen, it won’ draw well because fans will see it as a rip off ahead of time and won’t waste their money buying. It’s doubtful that Mayweather will be able to depend on the boxing community to purchase the fight because many fans are still angry with Mayweather over the huge cost and the total disappointment of his dull fight against Pacquiao last year.