McGregor vs Mayweather, a cash pool mirage

On Twitter: @Onlythetruth427

With everyone abuzz over a super bout between King of the Cage Conor McGregor and King of the Ring Floyd Mayweather seemingly at the forefront of the fight world, I find myself questioning the legitimacy of this matchup. It’s true, both fighters are great and both have made their respected sports outrageous amounts of money, but in the end is money all that this fight is really about? Is the result really that unpredictable? 

We have seen Floyd dominate boxing for years. As an amateur, he won 3 National Golden Gloves and an Olympic bronze medal. After turning pro in 1996, Floyd would go on to win titles in 5 weight classes while maintaining an undefeated record of 49-0 with victories over such greats as Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya. Still, for some reason, we as fight spectators and even the "fight experts" seem to be blinded by the stardom of the "New Kid On Campus" in Conor McGregor. 

Conor McGregor is an MMA fighter currently in the UFC. McGregor, like Floyd, is no stranger to success joining the MMA scene in 2008 and going on to win both the featherweight and lightweight championships in 2012 under the Cage Warriors organization. After vacating both titles and joining the UFC in 2015, Conor would go on todominate the featherweight division by knocking out fighters like Dennis Siver, Dustin Poirier, and Chad Mendes for the interim featherweight title before ultimately destroying UFC featherweight great Jose Aldo in record time. McGregor then moved up in weight class and would go on to split a pair of fights with UFC veteran Nate Diaz before knocking out then UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez to claim his second title and become the first UFC fighter to hold two titles in separate weight divisions at the same time. 

Dubbed the King Of Kings, it would seem to be an even matchup between two greats with a lot of experts predictingMcGregor would destroy boxing great Mayweather, but before we go that far let's think realistically. 

Though Conor has been pretty dominant in his sport of MMA, he has no experience in the boxing world. This was evident in his first fight with UFC veteran Nate Diaz thatended with McGregor not being able to handle the punches and submitting to Diaz after being placed in a choke. Now,I know what everyone is thinking, Mayweather has made a career out of dodging fighters in their prime as well as being a fighter who likes to avoid contact altogether with his elusive style of boxing making for some pretty boring fights to say the least. So, I guess I can see why people would dislike Mayweather and want to see him lose in dramatic fashion. With his aggressive style and having finished most of his fights by K.O., I can understand why people would think McGregor is just the man to accomplish this. 

Both fighters make for astronomical PPV numbers, whichin turn means ridiculous amounts of money for venues, promoters, and the fighters themselves.  So, this brings me back to my first question, is money all that this fight is really about? 

I would argue yes. It has never been a secret that McGregordoesn't want to do this forever. In fact, in a GQ British interview with Alastair Campbell, McGregor said he wanted to "Get in. Get rich. Get out." A mantra echoed on McGregor’s twitter account as well.  In 2016, McGregor was shaken up after witnessing the death of a fellow fighter in the cage causing him to go so far as to release a tweetannouncing his retirement. Also, recently, McGregor’scoach John Kavanagh has said that McGregor is becoming worried about long lasting head trauma. So, this should make McGregor’s intentions pretty clear. Adding all the aforementioned with the fact that McGregor is expecting his first child and doesn't seem to be showing any interest in fighting anyone other than Mayweather leads me to believe he wants the big payday that will ultimately allow him the freedom of maintaining his superstar status with no economic need to ever fight again.

Even if money is not the motivation, is the outcome really that hard to predict? I think not. When this is realistically evaluated, I don't think there is any way McGregor can win in the boxing ring. Mayweather has spent his whole life perfecting the sweet science that is boxing and though McGregor is an excellent MMA fighter, he is not a boxer and hasn't spent nearly the same amount of time developing and perfecting his boxing skill. Nor does he posses the movement or hand speed of an elite boxer such as Mayweather. Simply put, McGregor does not compare to Mayweather as a boxer and in my opinion would not be able to maintain his energy in a 12 round boxing match, the equivalent of which is a 7 round UFC bout. My prediction, McGregor would spend the night chasing Mayweather around the ring while eating sporadic yet punishing combinations from the lightning fast boxer. 

So, if and when this ever does come to be a reality, just remember what it is more than likely all about and don't expect much of a surprise.  You just may find yourself watching yet another boring but dominant performance by King of the Ring Floyd Mayweather.  But hey... what do I know... I'm just a fan.  So until next time, stay entertained and enjoy the ride.