Note: The first part of this article was written on Friday, Aug. 25 before the fight.
Tomorrow night, Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will step into the ring for a boxing match, and the only certainty is that both men will receive handsome rewards for the fight regardless of the result. Mayweather is coming out of a two-year retirement to attempt to claim his 50th boxing win, an impressive feat, especially considering that he has never lost. Let me repeat that: Floyd Mayweather Jr. is undefeated in his professional boxing career. He is a five-division world champion, has won fifteen world titles, and has claimed the lineal championship in four different weight classes. So if you think it is absurd that, even though Floyd is 40 years old and coming out of retirement, McGregor, an MMA fighter, would step into the ring with Floyd, you are right. That said, McGregor has nothing to lose and everything to gain. He may make up to $100 million on this single fight and, if he loses, he has the easy excuse that he is not a boxer and Floyd is one of boxing’s greats. If he wins, he will add perhaps the finest achievement to his already impressive resume and go down in history as the MMA fighter that beat the best defensive boxer, and possibly the most accurate puncher, of all-time.
I despise the character of both men. My dislike stems largely from their incessant trash-talking, their arrogance which is only paralleled by each other’s and their rampant narcissism. McGregor and Mayweather have the mantle to be role models and they certainly are not. I understand that they are part of a business and by being outrageous they create story lines which help sell the fight. Perhaps I should not be too hasty to judge; maybe Floyd has learned to read in his retirement. Maybe McGregor is too narcissistic to realize the absolute hypocrisy of the “humble in victory, humble in defeat” comment he made after tapping out against Nate Diaz.
The above is a long way of explaining that my opinion of this fight is unbiased. The fight could be incredibly boring, as many felt the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight was, Mayweather could evade McGregor’s punches and win by decision. I see McGregor’s only change as an early-round knockout. Floyd is notorious for his mid-fight adjustments once he picks up on his opponent’s style. Despite the conspiracies that Mayweather will throw the fight to set up an even a re-match with an even larger payout, I do not see that happening. While Mayweather has not fought in two years, two years is not an eternity in boxing, and Mayweather never relied on his knockout power anyways. Mayweather has not knocked anyone out in six years, and I do not see him ending that streak against McGregor, but I do not think McGregor will land many punches. Remember: Mayweather has never lost, and I do not see that changing, let alone at the hands of someone who is not a professional boxer.
Prediction: Mayweather by Unanimous Decision (Who then proceeds to ride off into thesunset while McGregor resurrects his MMA career and acts like the loss never happened).
The remainder of this article was written on Sunday, Aug. 27 after the fight:
Conor McGregor impressed me last night. He more than held his own for the first two rounds and actually looked like a boxer, aside from his bad habit of hammer punching the back of Floyd’s head, which is not allowed in boxing. He won the first round on all three judges scorecards, and one judge gave him the second and third rounds as well. Floyd showed his age in the fight, moving less and reacting slower than he has in the past; however, he also showed why he is one of the all-time greats. He did what he does best: he let McGregor tire in what was the longest fight McGregor has fought in his professional career (only once had he fought the full 25 minutes of a UFC championship bout) while reading his fighting style to set himself up for victory. Mayweather finally began to capitalize in the ninth round, landing several key punches on a visibly tired McGregor. As the ninth round ended, one could sense that the the tenth round would likely be the last. It was. Mayweather pounded McGregor to the body then landed two huge shots to the head, and the referee stopped the fight, granting Mayweather his record-setting 50th victory by technical knockout.
Mayweather has indicated that he will not return to the ring, and quite frankly, why should he? His 50 wins are the most ever by an undefeated professional boxer, edging out the legendary Rocky Marciano, who went 49–0 in his career. One would imagine that McGregor will return to the octagon; lest we forget he is the reigning UFC lightweight world champion. The key difference for both men is that they are far wealthier: McGregor may have quadrupled his net worth of $37 million and Mayweather likely added more than 50% to his $400 million net worth. The fight was entertaining through and through and, I will admit, I bought into the hype a bit. While I have no more respect for either man’s character, one must admire their dedication, passion and dogged intensity. Professional boxing, or mixed martial arts for that matter, is not easy, and, while the monetary compensation for those at the very top more than makes up for the struggle, what men like Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather do at the highest-level is incredibly impressive, even awe-inspiring.
The fight certainly kept many entertained and assuredly provided a needed distraction in a news cycle than can be nauseating at times. Years, perhaps even decades, will pass before another boxing match of this scale comes around; I hope better characters fight in that match, maybe even role models, but I can only hope. Until that fight comes around, let us find our role models in other outlets, prop up those who represent our values, and drown out the voices that contradict them. Mayweather and McGregor made millions of people boxing fans for a night; imagine the good that they could do with that spotlight.
