By Allan Fox: Floyd Mayweather Jr. said this past week that he plans on coming out of retirement to face UFC star Conor McGregor n a fight that he hopes will take place this year. Mayweather thinks McGregor will price himself out of the fight by asking for too much money. That might be the least of it unfortunately. McGregor still need permission from his UFC bosses to take the fight with the 40-year-old Mayweather.
It might not even get to the point of negotiations for the purse. The money split does look like a problem that could ultimately keep the fight from taking place. Mayweather has a certain price that he wants to make for the fight with McGregor. For Mayweather to make that money, he might need to take the lion’s share of the revenue. McGregor is big star in his own right, and he’s going to want to be well paid for a fight against Mayweather.
If Mayweather is going to get most of the fight, then it might not be worthwhile for McGregor to take the fight, which will be under boxing rules. It’s a mismatch in favor of Mayweather. He’s getting popular fighter in McGregor in a fight that promises to be hopefully one-sided. You can understand why McGregor would want to at least get 50% of the revenue. After all, it’s his name that will help attract a lot of fans to pay to see the fight from the MMA and boxing world.
“This is what Conor McGregor is going to do. What he’s going to do is keeping saying he wants to fight, he wants to fight, I’m scared, I’m scared,” Mayweather said via Fighthype.com on his UK Tour. “Behind the scenes, I truly believe in my heart what he’s going to try and do is bid himself out the fight so he wouldn’t have to fight,” added Mayweather.
Mayweather needs a drop dead date to move if McGregor still hasn’t’ signed for the fight. Mayweather can’t be waiting year after year for a fight that may never happen. He needs to cut to the chase by giving a date that McGregor needs to sign for the fight or else he won’t get it. The last thing Mayweather needs is for this to keep dragging on the way it has.
“I’m not ducking or dodging anyone,” said Mayweather to Fighthype.com. “I’m only coming out of retirement for one person and that’s Conor McGregor. I’ve been off for a long period of time, so we just don’t know how this can play out. We cannot mix up the rules and the regulations. He called me out. We have to go by my rules.”
It would be a pity if this is what Mayweather’s remembered for in chasing a fight against McGregor that might not happen. You can argue that it’s beneath Mayweather’s dignity to be chasing this fight when the signs appear that it will never happen. Mayweather would probably more respect from the boxing world if he chased a fight against Gennady Golovkin or Keith Thurman.
The fans would see these as an attainable fights if Mayweather called out Golovkin or Thurman, and ones that would be a more competitive match-up. It wouldn’t be viewed as circus-like, which is how a lot of fans see Mayweather’s dream fight against McGregor. It’s bad news for Mayweather to chase the McGregor fight because it appears that he doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand that the fight might not ever happen.
I think there’s a right way and a wrong way for Mayweather to bow out of the sport. The right way in my opinion is for him to go after actual skilled boxers that would have a chance of beating him inside the ring. The wrong way would be for Mayweather to keep chasing the McGregor fight and sending the message that he’s just looking for a payday rather than looking to enhance his legacy. A lot of boxing fans think Mayweather’s sole reason for wanting to fight McGregor is greed. They think he’s greedy for money.