Let's get this important information out of the way before we truly dig in: if Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor were fighting in the street-Rocky V style-the bout would be over within 60 seconds. McGregor would destroy Mayweather Jr. due to the fact that mixed martial artists are not good people to mess with when combat is in play.
However, Saturday's circus show revolves around a fight comfortably inside a boxing ring, which gives Mayweather Jr., undefeated in 49 fights, a considerable advantage to play with. If you have ever paid for one of his fights, the 36 minute episode of "Peck, peck, run, peck" is fairly simple: the defensive wizard Mayweather Jr. keeps his opponent at a distance, landing accurate if not hard punches, and moves around the ring constantly.
What in the heck will McGregor do with that? He's a fish out of the pond in Las Vegas tonight. "The Notorious One" is an elite athlete, but at his best in a cage and not a ring. He's at his best when he can fire a punch and follow it with a kick and takedown. The only winners in tonight's fight will be the two men in the ring. Win, lose, or draw, each fighter is being given a check a lot larger than any of our weekly or nightly financial earnings.
Do yourself a favor and take your kids to Six Flags instead of forking over the 90-99 dollars for this fight. If you don't have kids, take yourself and a loved one or friend. You won't be cheated there. At Six Flags, you can experience amazing rides, eat bad food, and go home with motion sickness and a stomach ache. However, you can at least state the next day that you got what was coming and left satisfied.
Buying this fight will be like giving into the notion that Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao weren't fighting five years too late back in 2015 when they put the world to sleep with 12 rounds of Floyd flavored dominance.
Is this a once in a lifetime event? No. Now that these two have opened the gates to crossover combat sports, it will happen again. How about steroid addicts Brock Lesnar and Jon Bones Jones getting into the ring? Ronda Rousey is going to cross over in wrestling soon as well. Will it happen on this kind of scale again? No way, because you don't get two athletes at the top of their respective sports together twice.
I would love to see McGregor shock the world and knock Mayweather out, but it won't happen. While he hasn't fought in 715 days, Mayweather Jr. is simply one of the greatest boxers of all time. McGregor would have been better off taking on Andre Berto or Victor Ortiz instead of one of the best of all time.
Will Mayweather Jr. take this fight lightly? No. Do you think he wants the first loss on his record to come against a UFC champion? He wants to be the guy walking away with the girl, the belt, and the other man's pride at midnight.
Will Mayweather Jr. knock McGregor out? No. He hasn't knocked anyone out since Ortiz put his hands down in the fourth round of a boxing match. That's not Money Mayweather's game. He got to where he is by being smart. He won't open himself up against the bigger fighter (McGregor will enter the ring close to 170 pounds tonight) who has fast hands and a powerful right hand. If you go for the big shot, you leave yourself open for the big return. Just ask Pacquiao.
Mayweather Jr. will face early pressure from McGregor in rounds 1-5, but by round 6 and 7, the fight will be comfortably numb. Mayweather Jr. will land punches at will, snapping McGregor's head back. The prey will frustrate the predator. End of story. Same as it ever was.
Fight fans will lower their heads and casual observers were sigh and go back to dancing at the club. Your wallet will feel lighter while your appetite for a great fight has to wait until September 16 when Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin step into a ring.
The Canelo-GGG fight is worth paying big dollars for. Tonight's fight is worth sneaking into a bar so you can stand in the back for the first half of the fight, slipping out when the snooze button is struck.
I love McGregor's fire and Mayweather Jr.'s excellence at his craft, but this fight isn't worth your money, much less your time. As I wrote months ago, the press tour and ensuing hype were the real show.
