Are we going to pretend that McGregor has any less of a chance of beating Mayweather than Dominic Wade had of beating Gennady Golovkin?
Boxing ?purists? only seem to let out their sanctimonious shrieks these days when it comes to one of two things?The entrance of the dreaded ?casual? into their sacred fistic world or the idea of the villainous Floyd Mayweather making even more money from the sport.
So?consider the upcoming Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor bout the perfect storm for all pious boxing outrage.
However, personally, I have zero issues with the fight and, to be honest, actually look forward to the whole event.
As die-hard boxing fans, we need to remove the bunched up panties from our cracks and realize that boxing can?t survive if we insist on it being some sacred private club where only ?real? fans are allowed.
As I wrote elsewhere:
The ?purists? forget that sports are supposed to be entertaining, not some super serious test of whether you are a ?real fan? and not some fetish-love where you go down to the basement, strip naked, and fap yourself silly over how pure and unspoiled your man-crushes are.
Just relax?have some fun?or, at the very least, let others have fun.
The sport needs to find new ways to draw attention and potentially attract new fans to the sport. Mayweather-McGregor can do that?or, at least, it has the potential to do that. No matter what the angry boxing elitists have to say, boxing being on mainstream newspaper front pages and on SportsCenter is never going to be a BAD thing. If/when boxing?s other promoters decide to make the slightest effort to similarly reach crossover audiences, I will also support THEIR efforts.
In the worst case scenario, Mayweather-McGregor disappoints from a competitive standpoint and the sports sees no boost from the event or from the massive publicity push before it. It?s not like any boxing fans are going to be walking away from the sport because of a silly little novelty bout. And, honestly, can you see Floyd and Conor doing any greater damage to the image of boxing than what has already been done by the sport?s very own powerbrokers and fickle fans?
Mayweather-McGregor is bonus material in the grand scheme of things. It?s not like we?re missing out on a Mayweather final run through the welterweight elite. ?Money? is retired?except in the case of a bout that can bring him over $150 million.
And as for McGregor?would his entrance into the boxing world have been more palatable to the ?purists? if he had gone about it the more ?traditional? way? Would beating a dozen or so hand-picked tomato cans en route to a couple of fixes over money-starved fringe contenders be any more honorable than merely jumping to the front of the line? Are we going to pretend that McGregor has any less of a chance of beating Mayweather than Dominic Wade, for example, had of beating Gennady Golovkin? The Vegas betting odds would certainly say otherwise.
Yes, Mayweather-McGregor IS a mismatch and the ?B-Side? has almost zero chance of winning?but, again, how is that any different than so much of what we see on a regular basis in boxing? At least Floyd vs. Conor is not being forced on us as a world title fight and booked as a legitimate main event on a premium cable network supposedly dedicated to bringing us the best of the best for our subscription dollars. If you don?t want to see this fight, then you can simply not order it.
Again, I am personally looking forward to this event. Maybe there?s a dark part of my soul that will enjoy Mayweather schooling McGregor and teaching the Irishman a lesson in why true, high-end boxing is a craft learned over the course of a lifetime. Maybe it?s a bit of revenge for when an old, sloppy, impaired, and criminally under-prepared James Toney was tossed to Randy Couture. Maybe I?m convinced that the lead-in to this fight will, alone, be worth the asking price of the PPV. Or, maybe, I see this as a legitimate path to adding new fans to a stale, cranky, and aging fan base.
Whatever the reason, I?m fine with Mayweather-McGregor. And if you?re willing to ditch the boxing snobbery to roll the dice on bringing some new energy and fresh fan presence into the sport, you should be fine with it, too.
