A Few Thoughts on The MayMac Spectacle

Written by Zeke Perez Jr.

Like the dark, abandoned house in a horror movie, the upcoming Mayweather-McGregor fight feels like something you know you should stay away from but you’re inexplicably drawn to exploring, like the film’s protagonist. If you haven’t heard (and please share your magic if that’s true), Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor will square off in a cross-sport spectacle of a fight on August 26th. TV networks, Vegas sports books, and the internet have been abuzz about the fight for months now. A little less talk and a lot more action may be too much to ask for these fighters, but (thankfully) it’s almost time for the main event. And, despite how many reasons there are to tell me I shouldn’t, it’s a fight I will be watching.
 
My dad was a multiple-time Colorado Golden Gloves champion, so I’ve grown up watching boxing. Some of my earliest memories are of my family gathered at my Uncle Steve’s house to watch Pay-Per-View bouts. We still get together for the big fights and this will be one of them. The MayMac fight is boxing in name, but only half so when considering the tale of the tape. In one corner, you have the greatest fighter of this generation coming out of a short retirement at 40 years old. In the other, you have a UFC fighter who has never boxed professionally in his life. Given all that, I was curious about my dad’s thoughts on the fight. He and I both thought the same thing: we know it’s gimmicky and corny, but we still want to watch it.
 
The fight itself is unconventional. There should be little reason to watch a man who’s spent less than a year to try and dethrone a 49-0 professional boxer. On paper, Mayweather has the upper hand in almost every category. Mayweather is a defensive mastermind who practically wrote the shoulder roll textbook. His counterpunching ability can’t be matched, nor can his speed. He obviously gets the nod for experience, durability, and endurance, considering Mayweather breezes through 12 rounds of boxing while McGregor has fought past the third round of a UFC fight only once. The only area where McGregor takes the lead is power. MayMac is a crossover event, not a boxing match. If you want to watch a great, true boxing match this year, you should be much more excited for Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady ‘Triple G’ Golovkin on September 16th.  Yet the hype for MayMac is much bigger.
 
The promotion surrounding the fight is outlandish. As is always the case with press conferences and weigh-ins both in boxing and the UFC, the fighters talked trash and put on a show.  But the number of stops they’ve made on the promo tour, the fake scuffles and inane comments, the back-and-forth in interviews and on social media has all gotten old. At times it feels like a practical joke, like both fighters are feuding to sell tickets, only to simply shake hands on fight night and run away with their riches.  

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Speaking of riches…the money in this fight is another reason you feel like maybe you shouldn’t watch. Tickets at the arena ranged from $500 to $10,000, not unheard of for a Vegas fight, but not at all reasonable either. Watching from home will run you $99 on PPV. Going to a movie theater to see it costs $40 a ticket. When it’s all said and done, Mayweather will pocket $300 million, McGregor will take $100 million, and UFC will get a cut of its own. Heck, they’ve even added a belt to fight over. While it’s not a championship title, the winner will take home ‘The Money Belt’, an alligator skin belt with 3,360 diamonds, 600 sapphires, and 300 emeralds. Both fighters love talking about how much they earn and Floyd goes by ‘Money’ Mayweather, so it’s not at all surprising.
 
Yet for all these reasons not to watch, I’m still planning on it. Why? Because the promoters and the fighters themselves tried to sell us on a spectacle, and it worked. All the hype surrounding it makes it feel like the fight of the decade. Everyone is, and will be, talking about it, so you can’t miss it. But what about the fact that it’s not really a boxing match? That factors in too. Again, Canelo vs. Triple G is going to be a better true boxing match. MayMac is something we’ve never seen before, providing a sense of novelty to the whole thing. People have long debated whether mixed-martial artists or boxers are the better fighters, so we finally get to see what happens when a man of the octagon steps in a ring. Fear of missing out strikes again.
 
But why watch a UFC fighter and a boxer go at it under boxing rules? Mayweather has the advantage in nearly every category, so he’ll win easily, right? ….right? Maybe not. It seems pretty clear cut, and I do believe that Mayweather will win handily. I don’t think McGregor has the technique or the endurance to match up, especially the longer the fight goes on. But anything can happen. There’s a chance McGregor does land a big shot to win. There’s a chance something even more wild goes down; maybe McGregor slips up and throws and errant kick or tensions boil over and the fight goes the way of a DQ. People, myself included, want to tune in to see if the unexpected happens.
 
Floyd Mayweather, Conor McGregor, UFC, all the promoters, the PPV companies, and the sports networks got me. On Saturday, August 26th, I’m giving in. I’ll be following that creepy noise like some idiot in a slasher flick. It’ll be entertaining at the very least.  A retired champion and a barely novice boxer walk into a ring…let’s hope the fight’s not a punchline.  

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