Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather (49-0) is coming out of a near two-year retirement this weekend to take on reigning UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor in a boxing match in Las Vegas. It’s McGregor’s boxing debut. The bout is expected to generate obscene amounts of money for both fighters.
Here are five big questions ahead of the fight.
More Mayweather versus McGregor
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Who will have the more support?
McGregor is the underdog and will have MMA fans around the globe cheering him on to cause an upset. Mayweather on the other hand is a polarising figure in boxing.
But it’s doubtful that many boxing fans will seriously want Mayweather to lose, regardless of what they may think of the merits of this fight or him personally.
There may not be as much obvious support for him as McGregor, but boxing’s pride will be on the line. If McGregor can pull off a huge upset, there will be bragging rights for MMA for a long time to come.
(AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)
Can Mayweather knock McGregor out?
It’s a fact that Mayweather is fighting a boxing novice, but it’s also a fact that he hasn’t knocked anyone out since 2011. And that was against Victor Ortiz, who he controversially sucker-punched when Ortiz was attempting to apologise for head-butting him.
Before Ortiz, you have to go back to 2007 for a Mayweather win by KO, against Ricky Hatton.
The bout is also being fought at a higher weight (154 pounds) than Mayweather has fought at for most of his career.
He’s had to bulk up for this fight at 40 years of age, having only fought twice previously in his career at 154.
McGregor is physically the bigger man. He’s also a lot younger and arguably in his physical prime at 29. Whether Mayweather has the power to knock him out remains to be seen.
Mayweather is currently at almost unbackable odds to win the fight at $1.27, while McGregor is at $4.
The method of victory is where you can get more value if you want to put your hard-earned on Mayweather. You can get $1.72 for him to win by KO, and a potentially attractive $3.75 for him to win on points.
If it goes to the scorecards, Mayweather will win. Even at 40 years of age, his sublime boxing skills will ensure that. McGregor’s only realistic chance of victory is by KO.
Who will the eight-ounce gloves favour?
Despite protests from the Association of Ringside Physicians, the Nevada State Athletic Commission has sanctioned the one-time use of eight-ounce gloves for the fight.
Safety regulations in boxing would ordinarily mandate the use of 10-ounce gloves for any fights above the 147-pound weight division.
Put simply, there is less padding in eight-ounce gloves. UFC President Dana White believes this will favour McGregor by giving him a better chance to land a KO punch.
But if Mayweather uses his boxing skills and the bout goes the 12-round distance, McGregor could be eating a lot of eight-ounce punches.
(Photo: Wiki commons)
4. Will McGregor lose points for rough-house tactics?
McGregor is a boxing novice and it’s hard to know what to expect. But he probably signalled his intentions when recently expressing his admiration for Jeff Horn’s win over Manny Pacquiao.
Talking about Pacquiao, he said “Look what happened to him in that last fight. He got mauled. He got absolutely mauled in that fight. People were crying ‘big robbery,’ I didn’t see no robbery in that fight. I saw a man that just got mauled in a fight.”
While Horn was never in danger of having points deducted, it remains to be seen what McGregor may be prepared to do to rattle Mayweather. He’ll be unorthodox, that’s for sure.
But there are financial penalties in the contract that will be enforced if he “goes rogue” by using elbows or striking with any other part of his body besides his fists.
Even if he does lose points for any indiscretions, it’s almost certain he’ll need a KO to win anyway, so that takes the scorecards out of the equation.
5. How much money will each fighter actually make?
That very much depends on pay-per-view sales globally, which won’t be known until after the fight. Estimates of up to US$300 million between the two fighters is being speculated.
The actual split of money that was negotiated is confidential, but it’s rumoured to be around 70/30 to Mayweather.
Mayweather will earn $US25 million before he even throws a punch, due to lucrative sponsorship deals for brand exposure on his fight shorts, t-shirt, robe and cap.
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