THE ‘super-fight’ boxing wasn’t necessarily clamouring for will take place anyway. Floyd Mayweather versus Conor McGregor is official. Mayweather is the finest boxer of his era and Conor McGregor, a star of mixed martial arts, will be having his first professional boxing bout.
The two will fight in Las Vegas on August 26 and Showtime will broadcast the occasion in America as a pay-per-view.
Mayweather will be ending the retirement he announced after beating Andre Berto in 2016. He will be fighting McGregor in a boxing match and the Irishman is expected to return to the UFC afterwards.
McGregor has had some experience as an amateur boxer many years ago but made his name rising through the ranks and weight divisions in the UFC, the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is a ‘striker’ in MMA and has power with the small MMA gloves.
But boxing is a very different sport and Mayweather is an acknowledged master of the trade.
There’s no doubt though this cross-code clash will gain huge attention. Stephen Espinoza, the general manager of Showtime, told Boxing News, “It’s a massive, massive event. To say that, it would generate worldwide interest, not just limited to sports but cultural interest is no exaggeration.”
Mayweather justified the fight saying, “I’ve accomplished everything that I want to accomplish but I guess I have one more obstacle that I have to get over,” he continued. “Conor McGregor is a professional and I’m a professional. He’s a stand up fighter and I’m a stand up fighter. He can kick ass in the Octagon, I kick ass in the boxing ring, at the end of the day it’s still ass kicking. It is what it is. You have to give the people what they want to see.”
Rival promoter Oscar De La Hoya has been highly critical of the fight (he is promoting Miguel Cotto on the same night in California) and the WBA has refused to recognise it.
