'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
What's the story?
At the final press conference of the greatest fight of the year, the World Boxing Council President, Mauricio Sulaiman revealed one of the most luxurious belts of all time. This belt, costing over one million dollars, will be awarded to the winner of the bout between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor and seems fit for a match that has been titled "The Money Fight".
The belt is carrying a number of jewels and flags of almost every country in the world on it and depicts the prestige of the match whose preparations are going on since January 2017.
In case you didn't know
Floyd Mayweather has won all of his 49 bouts previously and is coming out of retirement for this match. The American orthodox is eyeing his 50th straight win in order to remain undefeated in his entire professional boxing career. He had been planning this fight since May 2016 and asked Freddie Roach to train Conor in boxing for this fight.
On the other hand, the Irishman has lost only one match in his entire UFC career and that is his only loss since November 2010. The belt that has taken over three weeks to be made thus seems fit for two of the greatest fighters on the planet.
The heart of the matter
The luxurious belt features 3,360 diamonds, 600 sapphires, 300 emeralds and 1.5 kilograms of 24-karat gold, all on a green Italian alligator leather base. The price does not seem to be much in comparison to the expected ticket sales according to experts. A pay per view projection found that McGregor-Mayweather fight could rake in $700 million in PPV revenue alone.
The belt has been given a name synonymous with the fight, "The Money Belt". It is expected out of the judges, Burt Clements, Dave Moretti and Guido Cavalleri that the belt will go on the right waist with so much at stake.
What's next?
The fight kicks off at the T-Mobile Arena in Nevada on 27 August 2017 (in India) and will most probably be the last fight for Floyd Mayweather Jr. The event also involves 7 other boxing clashes before this. No matter who wins, quantitatively, both the fighters will earn big. Mayweather is expected to make $100 million out of this fight while the Irish southpaw is expected to make $75 million.
Author's take
Fans are eagerly awaiting for the start of this match and such a unique belt only adds to the sense of occasion.
