Fight week for the biggest event in combat sports history continued Wednesday as Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor squared off at the final press conference ahead of the SHOWTIME PPV matchup this Saturday, Aug. 26 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The fighters spoke to hundreds of media from all around the world as the anticipation continues to grow for this once-in-a-lifetime event that combines the worlds of boxing and MMA for one spectacular fight.
The hype is in full swing, the circus is in town and no matter where you go you cannot avoid it. It is the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor crossover fight and as much as some fans, many of them in fact, cannot wait for Saturday night in Las Vegas, many more fans, boxing fans, cannot wait for it all to be over; for boxing to ‘get back to normal.’
The grand arrivals took place yesterday evening in a buzzing Las Vegas, with Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor given the red carpet treatment. Though Saturday’s crossover fight has been, and is being, derided by many, the fans in attendance are excited about it.
Down to curiosity it may be (fans are wholly unsure of what to expect when the bell rings) but millions of people are expected to tune in – one report says that as many as an incredible 1 in Six Americans could wind up watching the bout on TV. Mayweather, though, says he has doubts McGregor has trained as hard as he should have for the contest; at least Mayweather strongly suspects the MMA star is currently carrying a good deal of excess weight – perhaps as much as ten-pounds more than the 154 pound weight limit allows.
There have been a number of big boxing upsets this year (and, if the betting wishes of the high rollers are to come true, there will be another one witnessed this Saturday night in Las Vegas) but to many, the respective losses Manny Pacquiao and Roman Gonzalez suffered rank as the biggest shocks of 2017.
As fans know, Gonzalez, when closing in on Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 ledger, fell foul of teak-tough Thai fighter Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (AKA Wisaksil Wangek) in March, the Nicaraguan losing his super-flyweight crown. While in July, Pacquiao lost his welterweight title to big Australian outsider Jeff Horn in another stunning decision.
Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor official kicked off fight week events Tuesday with grand arrivals at the Toshiba Plaza ahead of the SHOWTIME PPV event this Saturday, Aug. 26 taking place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
(Esther Lin/SHOWTIME)
Also making an official grand arrival in Las Vegas was unbeaten Francisco Fonseca, who challenges 130-pound champion Gervonta Davis, plus light heavyweight titleholder Nathan Cleverly and former 168-pound champion Badou Jack, who meet in a 12-round title fight on the PPV undercard. The SHOWTIME PPV telecast begins at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT with unbeaten Andrew Tabiti and former world champion Steve Cunningham meeting in a 10-round battle after making their grand arrivals Tuesday.
Though his fight has been somewhat overlooked due to the so-called Super Fight that will take place on the same night in Las Vegas, future Hall of Famer Miguel Cotto’s Saturday night fight against Yoshihiro Kamegai could turn out to be a memorable one – for a few reasons.
Firstly, the fight set for Carson, California could be an action fight, a slugfest even; and secondly, the fight that will see Cotto and Kamegai duel for the vacant WBO 154 pound title could be the Puerto Rican great’s final ring appearance. 36 year old Cotto hasn’t said Saturday’s bout will be his swansong but he has said that no matter what, 2017 will be his final year in the ring.
49-0 – arguably the most famous numbers in boxing history. They belong to the great Rocky Marciano, heavyweight king of the 1950s, and having retired with such a perfect, unblemished record, Rocky holds a special place in sports. But this Saturday night in Las Vegas, Floyd Mayweather Junior will go to 50-0 if he defeats Conor McGregor, and he will break Marciano’s record. Or will he?
James “Buster” Douglas KO10 Mike Tyson. Leon Spinks W15 Muhammad Ali. Cassius Clay WRTD7 Sonny Liston. James J. Braddock W15 Max Baer. Lloyd Honeyghan WRTD6 Don Curry. Antonio Tarver KO2 Roy Jones Junior.
Each of the above stunned the boxing world, some of these wholly unforeseen results shocking the whole world; sporting and otherwise. The question now is, where would a Conor McGregor win over Floyd Mayweather rank alongside these momentous boxing upsets?
Boxing moves fast these days and the sanctioning bodies move even faster. Less than 48 hours after scoring a scorching 3rd round KO win over Julius Indongo to unify all four major belts at 140 pounds, Terence Crawford was ordered to make his first mandatory defence; so reports ESPN.com
The IBF ordered the unbeaten Crawford to face Sergey Lipinets of Kazakhstan but living in Los Angeles. The 28 year old is unbeaten at 12-0 (10) and he KO’d a good fighter in Lenny Zappavigna to become the IBF mandatory challenger. Still, it’s likely not too many fight fans will be overly familiar with Lipinets, certainly not to the extent that they will get too excited over the prospect of seeing Crawford defend against him.
Heavyweight great Lennox Lewis, who occasionally works as a guest commentator now that his own boxing career has ended, is not looking forward to this Saturday’s big, heavily hyped Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor crossover fight. In fact, in speaking with BBC Sport, Lewis referred to the fight as “a farce.”
Lewis said he will not be travelling to Las Vegas to watch the fight “unless they pay me to commentate on it.” Lewis, however, did say there is some mystery to the fight – “everybody wants to know what’s going to happen,” he said.