A fight that has been in the works for months is finally locked in – unbeaten Floyd Mayweather and UFC star Conor McGregor announced that they will square off on August 26th in Las Vegas.
Yahoo Sports reports that UFC boss Dana White has said the fight will be at T-Mobile Arena and be contested at 154 pounds as a standard boxing match. It will be distributed by Showtime Pay Per View. Mayweather hasn’t fought in two years since announcing his retirement after improving to 49-0 in his professional career. His last fight, in September of 2015, saw him take a unanimous decision over Andre Berto. Earlier in 2015, he defeated Manny Pacquiao in another much-hyped fight at MGM Grand.
McGregor is one of the biggest stars in MMA, but has never been a boxer. With a record of 21-3 as a professional, the Irish pug is the reigning UFC Lightweight Champion and has also held the featherweight crown for the promotion.
Whether or not a novice boxer like McGregor can hold his own against one of the greats of boxing in Mayweather is obviously a huge question. What is not in question is the likely amount of money both stand to make from the fight. Early reports are assuming that neither will be getting out of bed for less than $100 million that day.
Interestingly, this fight will come off on relatively short notice, and could have an effect on the market for another much-hyped fight taking place in Las Vegas – Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin are set to box at T-Mobile Arena in September. When asked if this new superfight might eat into that fight’s market, trainer Teddy Atlas had some dismissive remarks for Darren Rovel:
Teddy Atlas on Mayweather-McGregor affecting Canelo-GGG: “That’s like opening a store after Christmas. Everybody spent their $ already.”
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 15, 2017
