Floyd Mayweather Jr. announced this weekend that he was “officially out of retirement” with the intentions of lacing up gloves against UFC superstar Conor McGregor.
With a litany of back-page headlines built up over the course of many months attributed to the mooted “Billion Dollar Fight”, fans have built up somewhat of an immunity to such claims. When Mayweather Jr. stated that he intends to meet McGregor in June, things may have got interesting once again. Throw in a recent announcement by T-Mobile Arena executives in Las Vegas securing a date for the fight, and the wheels on the McGregor vs Mayweather Jr. circus have once again gathered momentum.
Joe Rogan’s recent Fight Companion Episode aired against UFC Fight Night: Fortaleza, the greatly popular UFC commentator [Rogan] gave his opinion on the magnitude of the spectacle, and how he feels Conor McGregor would fare against arguably the most successful athlete of our generation:
“It’s the biggest fight ever, because it brings in two worlds. It brings in the UFC world and this one guy who’s unquestionably the biggest star in the UFC – unquestionably, by a long shot – and then you bring in a guy who has been one of the biggest money-makers in the history of boxing. The only guy to go 49-0 other than Rocky Marciano. He’s right there, and he’d love to break Rocky Marciano’s record.”
A fight between “Money” and “The Notorious” would undoubtedly be the highest grossing combat sports event of all time. As a spectacle, many are critical of putting an MMA fighter with no professional (and limited amateur) boxing experience [McGregor] against a candidate for one of the greatest practitioners of “the sweet science”. Rogan sees an angle which the Irishman can look to exploit, however:
“When people want to do things like break someone’s record, and you want to do it so bad that you take on a guy that’s never had a boxing match before, and then that guy starches you. I mean, it’s not likely, but if he did it…”
“Mayweather would have to dismiss him as a threat. He’d have to not train hard enough, he’d have to not seriously consider the possibility that Conor connects on him and knocks him out. And then Conor would have to do some roughhousing. He’d have to hold him in the clinch. He’d have to hold him and hit him. He’d have to try and get off as many shots and bully him around and wear him out.”
There has been no response from McGregor’s camp to Mayweather’s comments at the time of writing.
