By Allan Fox: Floyd Mayweather Jr lets Conor McGregor know that he won’t enjoy the same kind of money fighting Manny Pacquiao as he did in their fight three years ago on September 26th, 2017, in Las Vegas. McGregor and Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) could meet up in 2021 for a mega-fight in 2021.
Pacquiao and McGregor both on course for a fight, but would is believed to be holding back the match-up is the pandemic.
With Pacquiao holding a senatorial job in the Philippines, it wouldn’t look good for him to take time out from his job during this time to fatten his bank account facing the 32-year-old former two-division UFC champion McGregor.
“He’s not going to get the money he got with me if he go with Pacquiao,’’ Mayweather said to USA Today about Conor McGregor. “It’s not going to be as big. You know, it gets no bigger than Floyd Mayweather.’’
It sounds like Mayweather is still interested in fighting McGregor again. Why else would he downgrade the earning potential for a Pacquiao vs. McGregor fight if he wasn’t interested in fighting Conor? Mayweather obviously has zero interest in fighting the 41-year-old Pacquiao.
McGregor made approximately $100 million for the Mayweather fight. That fight took place at the height of McGregor’s career when he competed regularly in the UFC.
All that has changed now. McGregor has fought just once in the octagon in the last three years, and you can point to the money he made against Mayweather as the reason why he’s no longer regularly competing in the UFC.
That’s not the reason for Mayweather predicting a lower amount of money for the Pacquiao-McGregor fight than what they got when he fought Conor in 2017.
There are several reasons why Pacquiao and McGregor won’t make the same kind of money as the Mayweather-McGregor fight three years ago. Boxing and MMA fans already know that McGregor has no chance of beating Pacquiao.
The fans already saw how inept McGregor was inside a boxing ring in his loss to Mayweather in 2017, and they’re not going to expect a better outcome for Conor three years later. McGregor hasn’t fought since inside a boxing ring, and he’s only competed once in the UFC during that time.
Fans have less money to throw down the drain on wasteful cash-grab fights like Pacquiao vs. McGregor. With the pandemic still going on, and with no end in sight, there are many people out of work in the United States.
The ones that are working, many of them are concerned about holding onto their jobs. They’re not going to waste money on a ridiculous circus fight like Pacquiao-McGregor when they know they might need that money later if they lose their jobs.
If Pacquiao does fight McGregor, it’s possible that it would be priced at $100 per household. In this economy, a price that would scare off any fans that were mildly interested in watching the fight.
Anything $75 an over for pay-per-view right now will likely end badly, and that goes for next Saturday’s fight between Gervonta Davis and Leo Santa Cruz on Showtime pay-per-view.
The Charlo brothers recently $75 pay-per-view event on September 26th last month on Showtime has brought in poor PPV numbers. It’s a bad time for the U.S networks to be asking boxing fans to pay a lot of money to see the sport.
“I have been walked. I’ve been walked away. I just came back for a quick bank robbery, a quick heist,” said Mayweather about his fight against McGregor.
“Oh, yes, absolutely,’’ Mayweather said when asked if he might do another exhibition fight soon. “Why can’t I do some sparring for, you know, some heavy cash?”
“I’m pushing him, pushing him, pushing that we can find the next Floyd Mayweather. And if anybody got it, this guy got it right here,” said Mayweather about Gervonta Davis.