Here?s a prediction for you: Floyd Mayweather is going to knock Conor McGregor out Saturday night.
Going to do it early, too.
Seriously, what makes anyone think a UFC star who has knocked out one opponent in the last two years can win a boxing match against a man who has 49 career wins, zero losses and would have to be firmly in the discussion in any legitimate discussion of the best pound-for-pound fighters of all time?
Think about that: Of. All. Time.
McGregor has never boxed professionally. He hasn?t even boxed on an amateur level since before he?d be old enough to drive a car in Pennsylvania. This is a fight between an unbeaten, undisputed world champion and someone making his professional boxing debut. Who even sanctions this?
Do not say you weren?t warned. This is a waste of your money, people. To watch this from the comfort of your living room, it?s going to run you $89.99. If you want to see it in high definition, $99.99. And all you get with it is what could generously be called a so-so undercard. Sure, this is what you paid to see Mayweather fight Manny Pacquiao two years ago, but at least that was a boxing match between two boxers who rank among the best to ever step foot in the ring.
This? This is a publicity stunt. An experiment. And it?s not going to work.
Look, no sane person would dare predict Mayweather could beat McGregor in a sanctioned UFC fight.
The referee would likely be picking up Floyd?s teeth while he gasped for air in his corner about two minutes after the opening bell sounded. McGregor is a dynamic mixed martial artist, and he?d do that to anyone who has never been in the octagon.
But it?s not like he can resort to a rear naked choke hold if he gets in trouble Saturday night. He can?t keep Mayweather at bay with his spinning kicks. He can?t grapple him to the mat. He?s fighting Mayweather in his sport, at his game, inside his arena. And as we all know, it?s difficult to compete against someone when you?ve never been in their arena.
Sure, McGregor probably throws a pretty good punch. Does he throw a better punch than Pacquiao? A better one than Marcos Maidana or Miguel Cotto or Andre Berto? Do you really think he has more knockout power than Canelo Alvarez? Those guys, combined, have knocked out 67 percent of the professional fighters who have crossed their paths. None of them could do more than back up Mayweather, maybe the best defensive fighter who ever donned a pair of shiny trunks.
This is the way the sports world is now, it seems. It?s why sports are becoming a modern-day freak show. And we should all blame the person who is doing the most harm to sports: the casual sports fan.
The casual fans are the most important fans, and drawing them in is every promoter?s goal. But the casual fans don?t watch a sport for the sheer pleasure of watching two great athletes, skilled at what they do, compete to see who does it better on a particular night.
That?s not enough anymore.
They need to be entertained.
They need a storyline.
They need a show.
If they?re going to devote a Saturday night to something different, they would prefer to be treated to something outside the norm. And it better rival the Miracle on Ice or the Shot Heard ?Round the World, or the Hand of God, or most of those fans are going to shrug and walk away, reaching for their phones so they can complain to their Twitter followers how much they paid to see something so bad.
Well, of course it will be bad. It is meant to be entertaining. Good will be icing on the cake.
This is why promoters and league commissioners and television networks try to conspire to create something that can only come organically. The push to manufacture parity in the NFL, which has watered down quality of play leaguewide over the last decade. The blind eye cast toward baseball?s steroids era, where the records set during a time casual fans were on the edges of their seats are now seen as wholly illegitimate.
Those who loved these particular sports unconditionally? Why bother appeasing them. They?ll watch anyway.
That?s why these kinds of events hardly ever approach the hype they create, and why they never achieve the desired results for their sport. What could wind up being the most-watched boxing match of the last decade is a monumental underdog to grow boxing in any meaningful way, because outside of the star power in the names, the competition itself is a monumental mismatch.
Any attention is good attention, they say. Not quite sure that?s true.
Consider this, if you do: What would be better for baseball? Jose Altuve batting with the bases loaded and two out, down a run in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 of the World Series? Or LeBron James pinch hitting for him?
Now, ask yourself this: What would more people tune in to watch?
DONNIE COLLINS is a Times-Shamrock sports columnist. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @DonnieCollinsTT.
