Whats’s the story?
Renowned American sports columnist, author and television personality Skip Bayless, thinks that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is flat out ducking the reigning UFC lightweight champion and global superstar Conor McGregor.
On Wednesday, Floyd Mayweather revealed the terms he’d agree to for a mega-fight against MMA star McGregor inside the boxing ring. Mayweather admitted that he was the one who started the rumours of this prospective fight last year.
Mayweather said he would offer McGregor $15 million guaranteed against $100 million guaranteed for himself, and the two of them could then negotiate a percentage of the profits from the pay-per-view sales.
However, Skip Bayless had a different opinion on ‘Undisputed’ on Thursday when he stated that Mayweather’s offer of such a, relatively low amount, of $15 million to McGregor was Floyd’s way of making sure that this fight never comes to fruition.
According to Bayless, McGregor is, currently, the baddest man on the planet, not Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather, or as Bayless prefers to call him ‘May or may not weather’, is past his prime according to Bayless. He went on to say that McGregor, on the other hand, is in his prime at 28 years of age.
Bayless also predicted that if this fight happens, Floyd will employ his usual strategy of jabbing and moving away from his opponent. Bayless also claimed that all Floyd ever does is jab-run-jab-run, rinse and repeat. according to him, the main reason that Floyd is offering such a small piece of the pie to McGregor is because Mayweather has no intentions of actually making the fight come to fruition.
By lowballing McGregor Floyd is assuring that he can avoid fighting McGregor, since he feels that McGregor wouldn’t accept such a, relatively paltry, share of the total revenue that this mega event would generate.
in case you didn’t know:
Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather Jr. (49-0) is considered to be one of the best pound-for-pound boxers of this generation, while ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor (21-3) is ranked as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in MMA as of 2017. McGregor, currently, holds the UFC Lightweight Championship.
He has also held the UFC Featherweight belt. Mayweather, on the other hand, has won world titles in multiple weight classes in professional boxing.
What makes this fight strangely intriguing is that Mayweather has no pro MMA experience and McGregor has no pro boxing experience. Mayweather has repeatedly lobbied for a prospective fight between him and McGregor to happen under boxing rules, in a boxing ring. McGregor, on his part, has shown no qualms, whatsoever, about facing Mayweather under any ruleset, stating multiple times that he is ready to take on Floyd in a fight- boxing or MMA.
The heart of the matter:
Mayweather, reportedly, claimed that he is the ‘A’ side in this two-sided negotiation between him and McGregor, however, Skip Bayless disagrees. Bayless insinuated that with Mayweather not having fought for a long time now, and McGregor pulling in record numbers at the box office and on pay-per-view around the world; it is McGregor who can now demand the higher price tag.
“Globally, Conor McGregor is much bigger than Floyd Mayweather. I’m sorry, he’s the draw in UFC and so he’s the global draw right now.” – (Skip Bayless on the Mayweather vs McGregor mega-fight).
What’s next?
As of now, Conor McGregor is on an extended sabbatical from the fight game as he is expecting his first child with his partner Dee Devlin. Mayweather, on the other hand, has clearly stated that the only fight that he will come back to, is the one against the outspoken Irishman. McGregor seems to be ready to face Mayweather after the birth of his child- boxing or MMA, it doesn’t matter. In stark contrast to Mcgregor, ‘Money’ has clearly stated that he won’t face McGregor in an MMA fight. The only fight he’ll agree to is one in the boxing ring.
Sportskeeda’s take:
Skip Bayless has seen athletes come and go. In this case, I think Bayless is right, but only to a certain extent. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is not scared of facing Conor McGregor in a boxing match. However, Mayweather may be a bit hesitant to accept this fight because of the number of unknown factors going into this prospective fight. McGregor has not competed as a pro boxer, so the footage with the help of which Floyd will study McGregor’s boxing game would be solely based on Mcgregor’s MMA fights and sparring videos. Now, there is a difference in the technicalities of MMA boxing and pure pro boxing. This may be a major factor behind Floyd’s apparent reluctance to box with McGregor.
Secondly, it is a lose-lose situation for Floyd- If Floyd wins, people would say that the outcome was a given since the fight took place in the boxing ring and Conor has no experience as a pro boxer. If Floyd loses, then people would question his legacy as well as the legitimacy of professional boxing as an effective form of combat.
Regardless of what happens from this point moving forward, a Mayweather vs McGregor fight is a guaranteed box office hit, a monster pay-per-view and huge payday for everyone associated with this event. The fight game isn’t merely a game, it’s also a business- a cold, ruthless business. And in this capitalistic world, money talks. There is a legitimate chance that this fight happens considering the huge amount of prospective money to be earned. Regardless of what fight pundits and sports personalities like Skip Bayless think, we may, very well, get an opportunity to watch Mayweather vs McGregor inside a boxing ring, in the near future. Till then, keep your fingers crossed.
