Ellerbe: Mayweather-McGregor event won’t be stopped

By Boxing News - 08/17/2017 - Comments

Image: Ellerbe: Mayweather-McGregor event won’t be stopped

By Allan Fox: Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe doesn’t like hearing the negative comments made from promoters and members of the media about the “event” between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor on August 26.

As far as Ellerbe is concerned, the media and promoters should mind their own business and concentrate on their work, as the event is not going to be stopped by them. The people asked for the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight and they’re giving them what they asked for. From the media and promoters perspective, you can understand why they would be not pleased with seeing a mismatch between Mayweather and McGregor, because it’s a fight that could hurt the boxing industry long term if it turns out like Mayweather’s high priced fight against Manny Pacquiao in 2015.

“You can’t be mad and be going out there like some media members and promoters, [saying] this is why you shouldn’t buy the fight and this and that … mind your own … business, do your job, cover the sport,” Ellerbe said to the latimes.com. “We know what this is about. One thing is for sure, you are not going to stop this event.”

Ellerbe is right about the media and promoters not being able to stop the Mayweather-McGregor event by downgrading it. It’s the buyer beware. The casual boxing and MMA fans that will be buying the event likely are tuning out negative stuff and they won’t be convinced not to buy. They’ll have to see for themselves by buying it and learning a lesson the painful way if it turns out to be just as Mayweather’s last 2 fights were against Pacquiao and Andre Berto.

Mayweather is saying that this fight is going to be different. He’s going to make it exciting this time for the boxing fans. If Mayweather wasn’t willing to make it exciting for the fans in his last 2 fights despite making tens of millions, why would this fight be any different? Is it because he’s fighting a novice that has never fought before? Is this a safe fight for Mayweather?

What happens if McGregor hits Mayweather hard and causes him to go into the defensive mode for the remainder of the fight? What happens with all the big talk that Mayweather made about him making it exciting for the fans? Sadly, this won’t be the end for Mayweather. He’s likely going to be back at least one more time for a rematch against McGregor in the octagon for the boxing and MMA fans that haven’t learned their lesson from buying this fight on August 26.

Mayweather charged the boxing fans $99 to see the Pacquiao fight on PPV, and it turned out to be a real disappointment. Following the fight, the PPV industry for boxing appeared to drop off. Some think the cause for the drop off was a backlash from fans who had felt ripped off by the high prices and the underwhelming performances from Mayweather and Pacquiao. Now the fans could get a second dose with another high priced fight involving Mayweather, but this one promises to be an even worst mismatch. It’s up to the fans to make up their minds. It’s a free market. If they’re willing to pay to see Mayweather beat up on a fighter that has never fought a boxing match in his life, it’s their choice. It’s unfortunate that there could be repercussions after the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight could hurt boxing if it’s another dud fight.

“We didn’t ask for this. Social media was on fire because of these two guys going at it,” Ellerbe said. “The fans demanded this event and they’re going to get it.”

Ellerbe is right about the fans are “going to get it.” I think the fans are definitely going to get it, but they probably won’t like that they’re going to get. Hopefully, it’ll be a good fight, but it doesn’t look good right now. Even the clip released by UFC president Dana White of McGregor slapping Paulie Malignaggi around the ring didn’t look good.

McGregor looked totally unskilled and amateurish the way that he was throwing punches at Malignaggi. There was no speed, power or skills on McGregor’s part. He looked like almost anybody. That video showed that McGregor is little more than an MMA fighter, who doesn’t know the first thing about boxing. It’s too bad the full video wasn’t released so the boxing and MMA fans could have seen for themselves how bad McGregor looked. They were smart to only show clips of the video instead of the entire thing. McGregor was also smart to pick the out of shape Malignaggi to spar instead of a younger fighter with speed and punching power. If McGregor had sparred someone like Shawn Porter or Errol Spence, no amount of edited footage would have helped them build up the fight. Those guys would likely slaughter McGregor wore than Mayweather, because they can actually punch and they’re legitimate welterweights. Mayweather moved up from super featherweight years ago, but his power never went with him. Mayweather is still little more than a pumped up super featherweight.

Mayweather helped make the McGregor fight happen by him tweeting back and forth with McGregor. Mayweather clearly initiated this. The fans jumped on board AFTER Mayweather started the tweeting with McGregor. It’s not as if the MMA and boxing fans decided on their own that it would be a great idea for McGregor to fight Mayweather.

This was Mayweather seeing popular fighter from another sport and initiating the tweets that started it all. It’s a good thing that Mayweather didn’t find someone from a non-combat sport like golf or tennis to start tweeting to try and fight, because it would be so bad.

“That’s the reason that our sport isn’t where football, basketball [are] … it’s because we stay in our own little box,” Ellerbe said. “You tell me, what is wrong with these two guys fighting? If you don’t want to watch it, don’t buy it. Simple as that.”

Ellerbe is wrong. If he’s advocating more boxing vs. MMA fights in the future, then he’s wrong if he thinks it’s going to help boxing. We’ve already seen a number of boxers try and fight in the MMA, and it always ends badly for them. That doesn’t help boxing. Up until now, the MMA fighters have always been too smart to want to risk getting beaten up by going into a boxing ring to take on a top fighter. Unlike MMA, boxing takes too many years to learn. You can’t pick up the sport in 1 or 2 years. If boxers continue to fight occasionally in MMA fights, they’re likely always going to lose. It’s going to be the same thing with the MMA fighters going into boxing. It’s not fair to the fans to rip them off like that. Many of the fans don’t realize that fighters from other sports can’t just walk into a boxing ring and beat Mayweather. They’re going to find out on August 26, and they’re going to pay a lot of money to learn that lesson. But, I don’t agree that the reason boxing isn’t where football and basketball is right now is because they’re not thinking outside the box.

I don’t know where Ellerbe is going with that. You can only trick the MMA and boxing public so many times before they learn and realize, ‘Gee, this is not a good idea for me to pay $100 to watch an MMA fighter fight a boxer.’ This is a one and done thing. If boxers keep trying to fight MMA under boxing rules, the outcome will eventually be predictable to the fans, and they will stop buying those mismatches in the future. Right now, the fans don’t know better, so they’re going to have to find out for themselves on August 26. But slowly the fans will eventually understand that you cannot put fighters from MMA in a boxing ring and expect them to win. It’s the same with sticking a boxer in the octagon. It’s not going to work. I don’t think it’s a good idea to rip off the public by charring them to see circus mismatches with a predicable conclusion.

YouTube video