There is growing talk that the poster boy of boxing will come out of retirement to take on the UFC’s biggest drawcard, writes GARY LEMKE.
Given the defensive brilliance Floyd Mayweather showed in an unbeaten boxing career of 49 fights, it’s probably fair to say he has never been on the front foot, or thrown as many punches – this time of the verbal variety – than he has in calling out Conor McGregor for a cross-code showdown that would break all financial records.
Not that Mayweather needs the cash. In fact, he even scoffed at the $25-million offer mooted by Dana White, the president of UFC – the mixed martial arts code that McGregor has become the face of. Mayweather, who has just turned 40, is richer than some small countries, a boxer who has used his ego and his marketing skills to promote himself over the years.
‘The last time I made $25-million – actually, I made more – was 10 years ago. I’m not bragging or boasting; I’m just telling the truth,’ Mayweather said. ‘I’m thankful. That amount is still great money.
‘For the past how many years, my guaranteed lowest would be a little bit over $32-million, but you’ll also note that in the Canelo [Alvarez] fight, I made over $100-million. In just two fights, [Manny] Pacquiao and Alvarez, I made somewhere upwards of $400-million or better. I made somewhere between $25- to $30-million in sponsorship money in the week leading up to the Pacquiao fight.’
ALSO READ: McGregor: I can knock Mayweather’s head off
The truth is that McGregor, a fearsome, violent force in ‘cage fighting’, needs Mayweather, rather than the other way round. Both are A-list sports personalities, but the man who was born Floyd Joy Sinclair Mayweather back in 1977, before changing his name to ‘Pretty Boy’ and latterly ‘Money’, is the real showstopper.
If, and it’s a big if, the two were to ever agree to a fight, it would be a TV sellout across the globe, Mayweather would get upwards of $150-million and the volatile McGregor around $100-million. In the real world there’s no disputing who is the bigger name. And, if – again a big if – the pair were to agree to 12 three-minute rounds of standard boxing, under the Queensberry Rules, the result would never be in doubt.
Mayweather would box the ears off his opponent and, given his defensive genius, would hardly be touched by the fists of the UFC star. The boxer by landslide points decision, or a late stoppage, are the only reasonable outcomes.
Still, the public would lap it up, especially the pre-fight hype, with both fighters doing their jobs in selling the showdown, because, the more interest, the more their slice of the TV revenue pie.
Since the last of his 49 professional fights back in September 2015, Mayweather has been content to set up a stable offighters, staying in boxing as a rising promoter. One of his prodigies is the junior lightweight Gervonta Davis. In January, the 22-year-old produced a jaw-dropping display to win the IBF world title. It was the 16th knockout in an unbeaten career of 17 fights and he looks the real deal.
When asked, immediately after Davis’ biggest win of his career, whether the young boxer was ‘the next big thing’, Mayweather answered with one word, but managed to split it with an expletive. ‘Abso*******lutely!’ he replied.
ALSO READ: Mayweather out of retirement to fight McGregor
It might be true that he is now turning to the next phase of his extraordinary career, but with a historic cross-over fight with a UFC poster boy mooted, the door isn’t shut on that happening either. They have started their negotiations in the glare of the public eye, and by doing so Mayweather’s and the 28-year-old McGregor’s names remain trending on social media.
With White throwing in an amount – $25-million – he has also started the ball rolling. They can quickly work upwards from this, and while the public might have said ‘never again’ after the ‘Fight of the Century’ between Mayweather and Pacquiao became a 12-round bore-athon, such are the marketing skills of the boxer-turned-promoter that 2015 seems a long time ago already.
Apart from the novelty factor of a cross-code fight between the two biggest cash machines of all time, McGregor has enough power in his fists to make things interesting should he be able to get close enough to the 40-year-old to land a power punch. His best chance would be to trap Mayweather against the ropes and land with a left hook that is concussive in its delivery. Then again, 49 professional boxers tried to do that, including some really big names, and none were able to.
Yet, the fight world is beginning to talk and it’s beginning to have a look at the calendar. McGregor, after his last violent victory, announced he is taking a break, but that he will be back. Money is close to his heart and he’s coining it by being cast in season seven of Game of Thrones, before he gets back into the ring.
One of the major attractions is that you either love or hate Mayweather and McGregor. Neither is universally loved and that’s the reason a fight, however unlikely many might think it is, can happen somewhere down the line.
In this sport, as in business, money talks. And right now no one is talking louder than the man who renamed himself ‘Money’ and an egotistical Irishman who is ranting against the universe and wants to be called the Baddest Man on the Planet.
For Mayweather, apart from the money, there’s one thing remaining that separates him from history. No boxing champion has ever retired with a record of 50 fights and no defeats. Mayweather and former heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano finished at 49-0. One more win would take Mayweather to 50-0 and immortality. And he’d fancy his chances of beating McGregor and racking up $150-million in the process.
It is all beginning to add up.
– This article first appeared in SportsClub magazine
