Like most sports fans, I enjoy a good fight, regardless of whether it鈥檚 on the ice, in the ring, or now, in the octagon.
As long as I鈥檓 not involved in that fight. It wouldn鈥檛 be a pretty site.
I鈥檓 not a serious fight fan by any stretch. I don鈥檛 mark UFC cards on my calendar, and book time off work so I can watch the tilts. I can鈥檛 name the current heavyweight boxing fan of the world without help from Google. And there are just a handful of boxers and MMA stars I actually can name. (Do Georges St-Pierre and Brock Lesnar still count)?
But there is still something special about the marquee fight. And this weekend is going to give us the biggest fight of the year.
Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor will meet in the ring on Saturday night in a showdown between two of the biggest draws in combat sports. The numbers they鈥檙e expected to generate on pay-per-view (PPV) are expected to be massive. It鈥檒l likely be the biggest event on PPV since Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao had their much anticipated fight in May 2015.
Of course, this one is unique because it鈥檚 a boxer meeting an MMA star in a boxing match. We鈥檝e seen boxers switch to MMA in the past, and vice versa. But to have a marquee star from each sport square off in a boxing match is a first.
Mayweather will likely go down as one of the top boxers in history. He鈥檚 the one guy who was a big draw at a time when boxing didn鈥檛 have any other draws. He鈥檚 undefeated.
In his prime, he would have made mincemeat of McGregor in a boxing match. He would have danced and jabbed his way through the fight, and it would have been stopped in a few rounds.
Mayweather would have made his money, and gone on to the next fight.
But he鈥檚 not in his prime any longer. He turned 40 earlier this year. He鈥檒l still defeat anyone he faces, but there鈥檚 a reason he hasn鈥檛 won a fight by knockout since 2010.
As for McGregor, he deserves credit for making the move from mixed martial arts to boxing. It鈥檚 not an easy transition. He鈥檒l put up a good fight, and it鈥檒l be entertaining. But he鈥檚 the longshot.
The only people who will bet on him will be friends, family, staunch supporters of MMA who think their fighters can beat anyone at anything, and those who like to be on a long shot.
It is a sad indictment about the state of boxing that this will be the big drawing fight of 2017. Years of corruption, politics and blundering have taken away the luster and the interest from boxing.
It starts in the heavyweight division. There should be something special about watching two big guys throwing punches. The best fights will always be in the lower weight classes, but the most famous fighters are heavyweights.
Muhammad Ali will go down as one of the most famous athletes ever. His fights against Joe Frazier, George Foreman and others were legendary.
Now the heavyweight champion is a Brit named Anthony Joshua. Most of us wouldn鈥檛 know him if we passed him on the street.
The champions in the other division also suffer from obscurity. The only fighters that most people know are Mayweather and Pacquiao. Their combined age is pushing 80.
It鈥檚 sad to see that a sport that once captured the public鈥檚 imagination to such a degree is now languishing with such little interest. Boxing wasn鈥檛 just a draw for sports fans; the marquee fights drew lots of mainstream attention. And for whatever reason, boxing has made for some of the best sports movies of all time. 聽
Mayweather-McGregor has a big fight feel to it, but it鈥檚 not that must-see fight. It鈥檚 not Mike Tyson in his prime. It鈥檚 not Tyson versus Lewis, or Lewis versus Holyfield. It鈥檚 a boxer versus an MMA star in which the boxer should win handily.
I hope to see the fight. But if I don鈥檛, I won鈥檛 feel like I missed out on anything truly special that we鈥檒l talk about 10 years from now.聽
