Against all odds, one of the most lucrative fights in combat sports history has been made official, with Yahoo Sports reporting on Thursday that UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will step into a boxing ring to face Floyd Mayweather Jr. on August 27 (AEST) in Las Vegas.
First things first, McGregor cannot and will not beat Mayweather in a boxing match. Just like Buddy Franklin can’t dunk on Steph Curry and Tom Brady can’t whoop Novak Djokovic in a tennis match, a UFC fighter with a 0-0 boxing record cannot beat this generation’s finest prize fighter.
Even since ‘Pretty Boy Floyd’ boxed circles around Diego Corrales in a 2001 fight so flawless that Bob Arum told the press that the sport’s hottest rising star was “better than Sugar Ray Leonard”, Mayweather has made a habit of treating the world’s best pro boxers like rank amateurs.
Arturo Gatti couldn’t land a telling blow on Mayweather’s chin. Neither could Oscar De La Hoya, Juan Manuel Marquez, Shane Mosley, Canelo Alvarez or Manny Pacquiao.
These are boxers who have won an alphabet soup of major titles and traded spots on The Ring’s vaunted pound-for-pound rankings list, and they didn’t stand a chance.
If you think a novice, even one with a proven track record in another sport, is the man to do what the pros couldn’t, well, I suggest you take another sip of that Kool-Aid.
This boxing-versus-MMA ‘super fight’ is a joke, but it’s one that was crafted on social media, 140 characters at a time.
To truly comprehend how this fight became a reality, you have to behold what the public is saying in their snappy, bite-sized comments online.
Just like Kim Kardashian, Donald Trump, or anyone else who’s name is always at the tip of someone’s tongue, McGregor understands that when we’re talking about him online, he’s winning the war of attention. And in his industry, that leads to pay-per-view records and seven-figure gates.
Last year, when the Irishman announced a fake retirement as a negotiation tactic to milk a little more money from the multi-billion-dollar UFC machine, the post was shared over 159,000 times – nabbing over 30,000 more retweets than Kobe Bryant’s legitimate retirement post in 2015.
With a few strokes of a keypad and the click of a button, McGregor can set social media on fire. The silver-tongued Irishman did it again yesterday. At the time of this writing, McGregor’s sarcastic fight announcement post with himself alongside Floyd Mayweather Sr. has over 200,000 shares and growing.
Just like every other Internet trend, though, it isn’t just the initial post that counts. It’s the endless parade of tweets, memes, and jokes that keep the conversation flowing for days to come.
Mayweather versus McGregor started on social media, and it grew legs with every post and article that it spawned.
“This wasn’t my idea,” UFC president Dana White said on Thursday when a fan accused him of promoting a blatant cash grab during a Facebook Live stream.
“Every fan and every media outlet on earth wanted this fight. And Conor and Floyd wanted this fight.”
He’s not wrong.
With every snarky tweet and click-bait post, the internet created enough interest in a cross-sport fight to make WME-IMG, the UFC’s ownership group, throw its biggest star to the wolves for a slice of the estimated $800 million this fight could generate.
So when the bell sounds on August 27 (AEST) and McGregor begins helplessly swinging at air for 36 minutes, just remember, we all helped create this.
Dogs Of War
Roar Guru
Rocky lost in the first move against Apollo Creed. It would be great if at the end of the fight McGregor yelled out "Adrian" just for comedic effect.
Kavvy
Guest
Spot on. It's particularly sad for the sport that with tomorrow's big rematch, the Joshua Klitschko fight a couple of month's back and GGG v Canelo finally happening, we've got three of the best boxing matches in a very long time all happening within 6 months in 2017 but all we be massively overshadowed by a circus act
Davico
Roar Pro
Sorry but saying De La Hoya could not land a telling blow on FMJ is simply not true. Did you watch that fight? Many very good judges thought he beat Money. I am not saying he did or did not I thought the fight was close and Floyd is probably the greatest defensive boxer to ever live but lets not re-write history here. Even Floyd's dad said Oscar won that fight!!! Anyway back to the topic at hand, I agree Conor has no chance in a boxing match with FMJ and it is sad that the sport of boxing has been reduced to this even happening. I am much more interested in Ward v Kovalev 2 and Canelo v GGG than this circus
damo
Guest
Not being a smartarse but have you watched Mayweather fight ? Being "rushed" doesn't faze him to put it mildly.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I expect you are right, he'll be too tough to be put away quickly. It may well resemble a lot of Rocky's fights (as in the movies) where he just kept getting pummeled but was tough as anything and wouldn't go down, but likely without the fairytale sting in the tale where he manages to wear his opponent out taking all those punches and eventually start getting on top!
SM
Guest
You say that as if no one has ever tried that against Mayweather before. So no, the actual fight won't be interesting. Mayweather's going to put on a clinic.
bill
Roar Rookie
I think this is like the old human vs horse races, or Michael Schumachers Ferrari vs a fighter Jet. great for the first 400 metres, but in those events no one was watching at the mile or even 2 miles that a 12 rounder will be. First round will be worth the $50 bucks but goodness it could get messy towards the end. (note: expecting connor to be too 'tough' for a 40 year who hasn't knocked anyone out in 5+ years to put away with one punch).
BigJ
Roar Guru
Mayweather boxed circles around his opponents. Pretty spot on there Justin as that all Mayweather seems to do just throw the occasional punch and circle his opponent. Truly is will be not worth the time of day. But if McGregor rushes Mayweather and takes the fight to him then it should be interesting.