Conor McGregor versus Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather would be the biggest inter-promotional fight since Thunderlips versus Rocky Balboa – or Mayweather versus The Big Show, if you want to keep things somewhat in the real world. It would be so big in fact that it would probably “break the Internet” – as kids are fond of saying these days – if it were to happen (or at least the part of the Internet town where UFC and boxing odds sportsbooks operate). It sounds almost too good to be true, which would suggest that it is not.
According to the British tabloid The Sun, the McGregor and Mayweather are on the brink of agreeing to a billion dollar fight – the richest in boxing history. The source alone should tip you off that something just doesn’t add up, not to mention the content of the story. For example, Mayweather would allegedly make £100million ($140 million), while McGregor would have to settle for £7million ($10 million). The publication also calls Mayweather “one of the greatest boxers of all time,” so you know journalistic integrity went out the window from the very start. Sure, he shares the greatest undefeated record in boxing history with Rocky Marciano (49-0), but Marciano was definitely better that Money is.
(There they go. There they go. Every time I talk about boxing, a white man pulls Rocky Marciano out his a**. That’s their one, that’s their one. “Rocky Marciano, Rocky Marciano!” Let me tell you something. Rocky Marciano was good, but compared to Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano ain’t s***! He did whop Joe Louis’ a**, but Joe Louis was 75 years old! Joe Louis came out of retirement to fight Marciano. He was 76 years old. Joe Louis always lied about his age. Once, Frank Sinatra sat in this chair. I said, “You hang out with Joe Louis. How old is he?” Frank said, “Joe Louis is 137 years old”. Oh, man. You have never met any Frank Sinatra.)
However, Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com tweeted that there was absolutely no truth to this McGregor-Mayweather story. A) McGregor has a UFC contract. He can’t just go fight Mayweather. And B) do you really think he would agree to those pay terms (though apparently Conor McGregor did offer to go 80/20 in a potential fight)? Then again, it’s not just about money or boxing odds – it mostly is about the money, but not entirely –; it’s personal. Both have cut promos on each other. In April 2015, McGregor said that he doesn’t look at a man (meaning Mayweather) who’s expert in one area as a specialist. He looks at him as a rookie in ten other areas. He added that he would Mayweather kill him in less than thirty seconds, like a boa constrictor and strangle him. Money responded that he didn’t take Conor seriously because he was just trying to get publicity – and when Money accuses you of that, you know s*** is real.
So if this bout were to happen – and it’s not – should you bet on boxing or on UFC? The answer is, both and neither.