Conor McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather: What's the fuss about 'The Money Fight'?
What happens when you put one of the greatest professional boxers in the world, the undefeated Floyd Mayweather, against UFC (Ulitmate Fighting Champion) superstar and its current light-weight champion, Colin McGregor?
The greatest cash-generating, made-for-TV show in the world.
The American, Mayweather Jr, who has won world titles at five levels of weights, takes on the Irish UFC star, McGregor, on August 26 in Las Vegas (where else?!), USA. However, before the actual bout, dubbed as "The Money Fight", the money is already pouring into the bank for the boxers and the organisers, with a slew of pre big match events.
Fight before the fight
The two boxers are currently on a four-day promotional tour. It's actually "the fight before the fight", with the two stars trading blows, in the form of profanities, abuses, taunts and so on.
The tour is really a grand spectacle with the stars holding "press-conferences" to a packed audience. Let's take a look at the high points of these tours:
The profanity suit
Remember Modi's famous/infamous pinstripe suit with his name woven into it? The Irishman, McGregor, perhaps inspired by the Indian PM, took it to another level.
For the Los Angeles leg of their tour on Tuesday, McGregor appeared sharply dressed wearing a three-piece pin-striped suit. On closer look, the sharp-looking suit was found laced with profanities. He made it clear on Twitter for those missed it:
The suit says fuck you pic.twitter.com/y5pargzIsC
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) July 12, 2017
'Racist' jibes:
The Irish mixed martial arts star stirred another controversy when he instructed Mayweather to "dance for me, boy!" during the LA tour.
Conor McGregor is being called racist after saying "dance for me boy" to Floyd Mayweather. https://t.co/ErJxRffXuP pic.twitter.com/psSG4EeieT
— Sporting News (@sportingnews) July 12, 2017
Many on social media and elsewhere criticised McGregor for his seemingly racial comment. The word "boy" when referring to black men is considered offensive, especially in the USA, owing to its long racist history, when African-American and black men were called "boys", to indicate their "low status".
However, Mayweather's father and trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr played down suggestions that McGregor's jibe was racist.
'You can't read'
After poking fun at Mayweather's sartorial sense in LA, McGregor again mocked what the American was wearing:
“You’re 40 f***ing years of age. Learn to dress,” McGregor said. “You’re carrying a schoolbag on stage. What do you need a schoolbag for? You can’t even read!”
Only took two press conferences for McGregor to tell Mayweather he can't read ???? pic.twitter.com/pTMzHlgySk
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) July 12, 2017
One must recall that Mayweather's illiteracy has been the subject of much debate and rumour on social media and elsewhere since a long time.
Mayweather responded: "They said I'm the mother f***** that can't read: I do numbers, I make money."
"You owe money," McGregor retorted, referring to Mayweather's tax problems that were reported earlier this month.
The tour now moves to New York today (July 13) before ending in London's Wembley Arena on July 14.
The criticism
Hype and hoopla aside, the fight has been met with criticism from many, with quite a few boxers calling it a "farce", "circus", "joke", and so on.
Mexican Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, two-time boxing champion, has called the fight as "a circus and a joke".
"It's hurting the sport of boxing," Alvarez said. "It's a big circus and a joke because when a fighter from boxing gets into MMA (mixed martial arts) or a fighter from MMA gets into boxing it's just a big joke. People don't take it seriously."
Even boxing great and former six-weight world champion, Oscar De La Hoya, has called the McGregor vs Mayweather fight a "circus" and a "farce".
In an open letter on Facebook, De La Hoya wrote: "My interest is in the health of boxing as a whole. Our sport might not ever recover."
"To use a bit of an extreme analogy, I happen to be a pretty good golfer. Would I be able to compete with Rory McIlroy, Jordan Speith or Sergio Garcia? Of course not. Nor would I think to try."
The money
Why did a retired professional boxer decide to take on a young mixed martial arts champion? One simple explanation is money. Tons of.
In fact, Mayweather, who retired in 2015 with a record of 49-0 win-loss, had said: "If I came back, of course, it would have to be a nine-figure payday..."
According to estimates, Mayweather will take home at least $100 million but this could jump four times if the event is a big hit (which it already is, in a way). McGregor will make at least $75 million, which is five times more than any UFC event.
And, mind you, this is just the moolah from the actual fight. The countless promotions, sponsorship, broadcast rights, pay-per-views, and so on mean that this, indeed, is The Money Fight.
With high drama, jibes, abuses, low-blows and big money, this is not just a boxing fight but a grand spectacle, and a money-spinning show.