The giant Italian heavyweight champion Primo Carnera once fought a Kangaroo. Not as you might imagine in the cold and desperate days after the racket guys had thrown him adrift to fend for himself, but right at the peak of his fame as heavyweight champion of the world in 1933.
From the old clips and photos ‘the Ambling Alp’ looks smiling and confident. Not bothering to limber up he stepped into the ring in a suit and tie. History doesn’t record whether the marsupial was nobbled prior to entering the ring, like a large number of Primo’s former foes, or whether the bouncing fur-ball just couldn’t fight a lick.
Sport has a history of these pointless novelty match-ups. Even the legendary Jesse Owens, who by the sheer weight of his talent laid waste to perverted Nazi racial ideology at the Berlin Olympics, was not beyond opposing a race horse over 100 yards. Like Carnera and the kangaroo, the result of these excursions are mostly lost in antiquity.
The reason for this is that the results like the pretexts for the contest themselves are essentially meaningless and exclusively about money.
Owens is a man and a horse can only be what nature intended it to be. If Owens were able to run on four legs or the horse on two then the match-up would have meaning and be one contested between equals. But, because they don’t the parameters simply do not work and the contest merely becomes an amusing exhibition.
One that is fun to watch but far removed from the competitive realms of sport.
This argument could of course be dismissed as mere facetiousness, but it does contain a kernel of truth. One that is still relevant when horses and kangaroos are replaced by men. In this instance the men just happen to be Floyd ‘Money / Pretty Boy’ Mayweather and Ireland’s Conor ‘The Notorious’ McGregor. Both are confirmed and undisputed titans of their individual sports.
The meek and mild showman that is Floyd Mayweather is undefeated in 49 professional bouts and has held multiple world championship belts across five separate weight divisions for close to twenty years. This has been punctuated only by his two-month prison sentence for battering his now ex-girlfriend in the presence of their children. Truth, if one needed it, that character remains elusively outside of the purchasing power of money and fame.
McGregor is a mixed martial artist (MMA) who is an undeniable superstar in the world of UFC, where he is the reigning Light-weight champion. The Irishman is fluent in multiple disciplines that include Jiu-Jitsu, Taekwondo, Boxing and Wrestling. These combined skills mark him out as a highly effective fighting machine. Within the context of UFC or out on the cobbles where there are no rules, McGregor would be a clear favourite to see off ‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd.
But, it is to McGregor’s detriment that when he meets Mayweather in Las Vegas on 26th August that the majority of his skills will be illegal and useless. He will be necessarily constrained by the Queensbury rules and his extensive arsenal of weapons cannot be utilised. Like a golfer with a bag full of clubs who is proficient in the driver, nine-iron and pitching wedge among others – who finds himself armed only with a putter, in a putting competition with one of the most skilled putters that has ever lived.
(Image: Wiki Commons (Mayweather) and Andrius Petrucenia/ Flickr (McGregor))
There are plenty of people out there that despite these constant and obvious facts would claim that McGregor has the skill and hunger to shock the world. They point routinely to the fact that McGregor has a concussive knockout punch in UFC bouts.
Yet they conveniently forget that boxing gloves contain more than a pound of padding and soft material, whereas MMA gloves are for more sparsely padded. In short, it is significantly easier to hurt someone with an MMA glove than a boxing glove. If anyone should doubt that this is a major point, and considers that the weight and amount of cushion in a glove makes little difference, I would point them to my earlier article Stolen Dream: The Sad Tale of Billy Collins Jr.
When the Irishman steps out to meet Floyd Mayweather it will ludicrously be his professional boxing debut. MacGregor is not breaking new ground here as 60 years ago Pete Rademacher also made his debut in a 1957 heavyweight title bout with Floyd Patterson.
Prior to the fight the legendary Joe Louis called it “the worst mismatch in boxing history” and the bookmakers nailed Patterson on as a 1/10 favourite. At least Rademacher could claim that he won an Olympic gold medal in the heavyweight division at the preceding 1956 Olympics.
Predictably Rademacher was knocked down seven times on his way to a sixth round loss by KO. Not learning his lesson he faced top rated contender Zora Folley in his next appearance where he hit the canvas four times on his way to a fourth round Knock Out defeat. Only then did he find his level and begin to pick up results against less threatening opposition, but with his career ultimately petering out to an unsatisfactory 15-7-1.
There are strong parallels between the Patterson versus Rademacher and Mayweather versus McGregor fights. Both challengers were woefully inexperienced, derided by the boxing press and given no hope by the bookmakers (Mayweather is currently trending at 1/12).
At a more feasible level and against realistic opposition it is not beyond the realm of possibility that McGregor could forge a decent boxing career. However, with wealth and fame already assured within the theatre of UFC, he has no reason to sweat it out with the also-rans. This is the central point of the puzzle and one that can be drilled down purely to money.
(AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
McGregor has zero chance of victory but will earn big. Mayweather will not be tested and will earn even bigger. He can win this fight at will and McGregor will do well to get even remotely close to him. In all likelihood the defensive Floyd will sit back and counter attack McGregor at will; with a stoppage coming in the middle to late rounds. Earlier if Mayweather wants it, but either way expect a dull, tepid one sided affair.
In reality this contest has little right to call itself a championship fight. But in the words of The Jam ‘The public wants what the public gets’. Saddest of all it feels a shoddy way to relegate Rocky Marciano’s prefect record of 49-0. The Brockton Blockbuster was also well known for his love of the dollar but I think even he would have turned his nose up at this stink fest.
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