Originally scheduled for early-February and once thought to be dead, the Floyd Mayweather vs. Logan Paul boxing exhibition is back on, announced for June 6 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida.
The event will air on Showtime PPV for $49.99 and will not keep with the original concept of fans paying more the closer it gets to the fight. Paul had initially said the reason for the delay was due to COVID-19 and wanting fans in the stands.
The 44-year-old Mayweather is shorter and lighter than the 26-year-old Paul. Yet to be announced is how many rounds, the size of gloves, rules, and what Paul can weigh in at. An undercard wasn’t announced.
Mayweather has been retired for several years, but returned for a December 2018 exhibition against Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa, winning easily in under three minutes. Before that, he ran his pro record to 50-0 by defeating former UFC champion Conor McGregor.by tenth round TKO in August 2017.
Paul, a former Disney Channel star turned YouTube star that is known to WWE fans for his involvement in the Sami Zayn-Kevin Owens WrestleMania 37 match, has boxed just once, losing a split decision to another YouTube star.
His brother, Jake, is 3-0 in his young boxing career and recently dispatched Ben Askren quickly by knockout. He and former UFC double champion Daniel Cormier got into a war of words at Saturday’s UFC 261. Cormier challenged Paul to fight him in MMA while Paul declined, insisting they box instead which he detailed in an interview with Ariel Helwani.
Somewhat retired boxer Floyd Mayweather returned to the ring Monday in Japan for RIZIN’s annual New Year’s Eve show, easily dispatching his undersized opponent in less than three minutes.
The four-round exhibition against young and talented kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa didn’t make it out of the first round as Mayweather knocked Nasukawa down three times, the third of which caused his corner to throw in the towel.
The 41-year-old was smiling for much of the fight, blocking the 20-year-old’s punches and landing body and head shots that hurt Nasukawa quite badly.
Mayweather said he made $9 million for the appearance which was thought to be off at one point as Mayweather bizarrely said it wasn’t happening despite appearing at a press conference days before. There was a two-hour delay Monday at the event which raised concerns he was going to no-show.
Following the show, the undefeated Mayweather insisted he is still retired.
Strangely, the fight wasn’t available for US RIZIN PPV buyers, but was widely available on Twitter after it happened:
When Floyd Mayweather made an appearance Sunday night at a RIZIN press conference to announce some sort of fight with kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa on New Year’s Eve, it was a surprise to the combat sports world.
On Wednesday, the undefeated boxer took to Instagram to say there is no fight and to clarify what led to all this:
“Now that I am back on U.S. soil after a long and disappointing trip to Tokyo, I now have the time to address you, my fans and the media in regards to the upcoming event on December 31st that was recently announced. First and foremost, I want it to be clear that I, Floyd Mayweather, never agreed to an official bout with Tenshin Nasukawa. In fact (with all due respect) I have never heard of him until this recent trip to Japan. Ultimately, I was asked to participate in a 9 minute exhibition of 3 rounds with an opponent selected by the “Rizen Fighting Federation”.
What I was originally informed of by Brent Johnson of “One Entertainment” was that this was to be an exhibition put on for a small group of wealthy spectators for a very large fee. This exhibition was previously arranged as a “Special Bout” purely for entertainment purposes with no intentions of being represented as an official fight card nor televised worldwide. Once I arrived to the press conference, my team and I were completely derailed by the new direction this event was going and we should have put a stop to it immediately.
I want to sincerely apologize to my fans for the very misleading information that was announced during this press conference and I can assure you that I too was completely blindsided by the arrangements that were being made without my consent nor approval. For the sake of the several fans and attendees that flew in from all parts of the world to attend this past press conference, I was hesitant to create a huge disturbance by combating what was being said and for that I am truly sorry. I am a retired boxer that earns an unprecedented amount of money, globally, for appearances, speaking engagements and occasional small exhibitions.”
At the press conference, there were questions about the type of fight it would be, the amount of rounds, weights, gloves, the amount of money Mayweather would be commanding for the fight, and more, but he did or said nothing at the time to lead people to think a fight wasn’t happening.
RIZIN has not publicly commented on Mayweather’s statement as of this writing.
After 15 months away, our hearts grew fond for the vocal stylings of journalist and podcaster Josh Gross which is why we welcomed him back to the latest Josh Nason’s Punch-Out with open arms.
On the menu for this 45-minute discussion:
– We kick off with some updates on what Josh has been up to including his sojourn into writing about LA’s newest MLS team, a departure from MMA writing
– We then transition to Sunday’s surprise news that Floyd Mayweather is going to fight on RIZIN’s New Year’s Eve show against a dangerous kickboxer…but with no idea on rules, rounds, or anything else. Also, who’s paying for all this?
– We then take a look at what’s next for the winners and losers for UFC 230 including possibilities for Israel Adesanya (seen above) and Chris Weidman.
– We attempt to answer why Jon Jones would even entertain a third fight with Daniel Cormier at this point.
– We then wrap up a quick look at this Saturday’s UFC 25th anniversary show in Denver, an affair that doesn’t feel like a big celebration at this point.
Hear all that and more on this free edition of the podcast, available below:
Undefeated boxing star Floyd Mayweather just can’t seem to quit combat sports as Japan’s RIZIN organization announced at a press conference that the on-and-off-again retired boxer will return to action once again on their annual New Year’s Eve show.
In a bit of a surprise, the 41-year-old (50-0) will face rising kickboxing star Tenshin Nasukawa at RIZIN 14, set for Tokyo’s Saitama Super Arena. Both men were in attendance at the press conference. The rules and weight class have yet to be finalized with the promotion and Mayweather saying they “were working on it” and that things should get sorted out over the next few weeks.
Mayweather said competing in Tokyo was a motivating factor and that his team and RIZIN were able to come to terms on this fight.
Nasuakwa is just 20 years old, but has an extensive amateur and pro career, currently sitting at 27-0 with 21 wins by knockout. He’s also 4-0 in MMA, but hasn’t competed in that sport since 2017.
Mayweather was last seen defeating two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor in August 2017 in a boxing match that set financial records. He had been trying to play up a boxing match with UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, former foe Manny Pacquiao, and even McGregor himself in recent months.
While the first half of MMA’s 2017 was relatively dull, the second half of the year was full of intrigue — mainly due to a boxing match featuring the UFC’s biggest star.
On a new edition of Josh Nason’s Punch-Out, The Fight Network’s Cody Saftic returns to talk about July through September 2017 which featured:
– The build-up to the biggest fight of the year money-wise in Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor including the fight itself.
– Jon Jones’ triumphant return to the UFC in winning back his light heavyweight title and then the crushing news he was flagged by USADA yet again.
– The UFC struggled with main events falling through on fight week due to issues like sinusitis and bad weight cuts
– Lots of free agent signings, fight announcements, event results, Dana White guarantees that were later rescinded, and more.
If you want to listen in to the first two episodes in the year in review series, head to the JNPO vault now.
In a content era in which it seems like anything and everything is possible, Dana White told ESPN Wednesday that the UFC is talking to retired boxer and all-time pay-per-view king Floyd Mayweather about coming to the Octagon.
“We’re interested in doing something with Floyd. Everything is a realistic possibility. Mayweather vs. McGregor f—ing happened. Anything is possible,” White told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto.
Mayweather recently made headlines by saying that he could earn $1 billion in “3-4 fights” in the UFC and that “They just called me not too long ago and asked me to come back,” not specifying exactly who “they” was (UFC, Showtime, etc).
Whether Mayweather has a deal with Showtime that would necessitate their involvement as co-promoters is unclear.
The undefeated Mayweather famously crossed over into the MMA consciousness with his August boxing match against Conor McGregor that generated more than $600 million in total revenue. Mayweather won that fight via 10th round TKO and was expected to retire from combat sports. McGregor hasn’t competed in the UFC since November 2016 and seemingly has no plans to do so anytime soon.
One would assume that a Mayweather-McGregor rematch in the UFC would be the move to make if the fight could be sanctioned. The obvious lack of ground training would put Mayweather at a significant disadvantage against even the most novice of grapplers.
Former heavyweight champion James Toney famously came into the UFC for one fight against Randy Couture at UFC 118 in Boston, MA, seven years ago. Couture had no issues taking down Toney and submitting him in the first round easily.
Going into the August 26th Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor boxing match, we knew it would generate a significant amount of business but just how much was the big question given the lopsided odds and the somewhat fun/somewhat cringy four city press tour.
On Thursday and nearly four months after the megafight, we got our answer as Showtime officially announced the pay-per-view extravaganza generated 4.3 million buys, falling 300,000 short of the 4.6 million record Mayweather set with Manny Pacquiao.
At a price of $99.95, that’s a lot of money the two men divvied up, not to mention the take from outside North America where the show broke records for PPV buys. The total includes traditional purchasing methods (cable/satellite providers) in addition to various online options, most of which famously crashed due to an influx of traffic before the fight, causing a delay.
The total revenue for the show (tickets, PPV, sponsorship, international TV distribution, etc) was in excess of $600 million, among the highest single-day grosses of all time.
This week, Mayweather said UFC has been in touch with him about coming to fight in the UFC. He said if he was to do so, he’d make $1 billion in just three or four fights.
McGregor, the UFC lightweight champion, hasn’t defended the title he won in November 2016 and it’s unclear whether he’ll ever return to the UFC again. The aforementioned Pacquaio said he was in negotiations with McGregor to box, which Dana White shot down quickly with the threat of a lawsuit.
While still being an overwhelmingly successful number, the live gate for the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor superfight failed to break the record that Mayweather had established against Manny Pacquiao.
The Nevada Athletic Commission confirmed today that the gate for the August 26th fight was $55,414,865.79, falling short of the $72,198,500 in ticket sales generated by Mayweather vs. Pacquiao. Mayweather-McGregor now slots in as the second-highest gate in Nevada history, with 13,094 tickets sold and 137 complimentary tickets distributed.
The T-Mobile Arena was set up for 17,698 people, but high ticket prices contributed to the event not selling out despite substantial interest in it. There were 16,219 tickets sold for Mayweather vs. Pacquiao at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in 2015.
Whether Mayweather vs. McGregor broke the North American pay-per-view record should be known soon. Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza has said that it’s tracking to do in the mid-to-high four million buy range, which would be around the 4.6 million mark set by Mayweather-Pacquiao.
Dana White previously claimed that the Mayweather-McGregor PPV did 6.5 million buys internationally.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeated Conor McGregor via tenth round ref stoppage in a curiosity-fueled money heist which will go down as a major event in boxing, MMA and sports culture.
The end result was no surprise. Even at 40 and clearly past his prime, Mayweather had a lifetime of boxing ring experience and skill drummed into him from childhood that overcame that his legs weren’t what they used to be.
The fight was more entertaining than most Mayweather fights, a strategic win where Mayweather laid back for the first four rounds, expecting that McGregor would fade. McGregor did exactly that, and Mayweather took over. McGregor was barely hanging on in the ninth round, and was about to be put out in the tenth before the ref stepped in and called the fight.
The match, making a joke out of the World Boxing Council, was actually sanctioned for their newly-created and likely never to be heard from again World Money Championship.
Conor McGregor may not have defeated Floyd Mayweather last Saturday night, but a similarly impossible upset did happen — the superfight delivered on almost every level.
It seemed like that had no chance of happening going into the night. Spectacles in sports rarely do meet the hype going into them; it’s almost impossible for them to. Mayweather vs. McGregor in particular appeared destined to leave audiences unsatisfied when it seemed like the peak of the night would just be those two stepping into the ring together.
But, despite all reasonable prognostication, an enjoyable boxing match went down. McGregor was clearly underestimated heading into the matchup. A lot of his early success in the fight may have been due to Mayweather’s gameplan of feeling his opponent out and waiting for him to tire, but McGregor avoided embarrassment while crossing over into a new venture and wasn’t outclassed by an all-time great.
The result may have been what most anticipated it would be, but the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor superfight delivered more than anyone could have reasonably expected it to.
Mayweather defeated McGregor by TKO in the 10th round, with the referee stopping the match as Mayweather was landing big shots and McGregor was about to go down. That came after McGregor put in a good showing as Mayweather felt him out early and waited to execute his gameplan.
In his post-fight interview, Mayweather reiterated that this was his final fight and praised McGregor as a champion. McGregor took issue with the stoppage, wanting the referee to make Mayweather put him down. McGregor said that he was only fatigued.
Mayweather was comfortably ahead on the judge’s scorecards at the time the fight was stopped. They had him up 89-81, 89-82, and 87-83.
McGregor had his most impressive moments in the first three rounds and landed 111 punches, which was 30 more than Manny Pacquiao did in his matchup with Mayweather.
Given their respective paydays, it was always going to be a good night for Mayweather and McGregor. But the result likely helps both as well. Mayweather got the win, advanced to 50-0, and put on a spectacle that pleased fans in a way that his superfight against Pacquiao didn’t.
For McGregor, he lasted 10 rounds against a boxing legend and was far from outclassed. He exits the bout a bigger star than he was going in, with options available for whatever he decides to do next.
McGregor said that he’d “of course” compete in the UFC again when asked about it after the fight.
After years of speculation, the fight finally being announced, a global press tour, and some huge hype during fight week, one of the biggest combat sports spectacles of all time is finally here.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor will meet in a boxing match at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada tonight. It’s the matchup that so many people thought would never happen as boxing’s pay-per-view king steps into the ring against the biggest star in the UFC.
Aside from their massive paydays, Mayweather is looking to extend his record to a perfect 50-0 and McGregor is aiming to pull off an upset that most seem to think is close to impossible.
The PPV is available for $99.95 and the main card begins at 9 p.m. Eastern. Mayweather and McGregor should be making their entrances around 11:15 p.m.
Dave Meltzer will take you through what is sure to be a memorable night.
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Our coverage will be limited to the main event which should start at about 11:15 p.m. Eastern time.
McGregor is doing a promo with Jim Gray. He’s very calm, talked about how confident he is. Said he’d be creative and spontaneous. He said he’d outclass him. He said he’d knock him out in the first round. Gray said it was a surprise to people that he made weight. That’s weird. He’s never missed weight and used to fight at 145. McGregor said he’d go into the ring near 170. so he’ll have probably 19 or 20 pounds on Mayweather.
Because of issues with people ordering, they are stalling for time even though we’re done the prelims.
The national anthems are over and now it’s time for the highlight packages. This fight is for the boxing version of the Million Dollar belt, but it’s sanctioned. Conor McGregor is coming out.
They are pushing this as if McGregor wins it’s one of the biggest upsets in history, but the odds at the sports books are not that long.
Mayweather is coming out with a mask on. I hope that’s not Toru Tanaka out there pretending to be Floyd.
Now Mauro Ranallo is talking about Gene LeBell vs. Milo Savage and Ali vs. Inoki. What about Butterbean vs. Bart Gunn?
Jimmy Lennon doing the ring announcing. Judges are Guido Cavelleri , Burt Clements and Dave Moondog Moretti.
McGregor out with two belts, even though in theory he should only have one. They called him a two-division champion. They stripped him one of those divisions. Mayweather is being booed. At least with Mayweather they say former five division champion.
First round: Floyd is making faces at him. The crowd is really booing Mayweather. Mauro talked about Joe Namath, Buster Douglas, but not Juice Robinson when it comes to biggest upsets in sports history. McGregor throwing punches that aren’t landing. McGregor is throwing. Mayweather finally threw a punch. McGregor is much bigger. Slow round. McGregor landed a left uppercut. McGregor’s round.
Second round: McGregor has him in the corner. McGregor threw punches and the ref said no hammer fists. Mayweather landed a punch. McGregor landed an uppercut and switched stances. Mayweather with a right to the body. McGregor landing more again. Mayeather is not throwing punches. McGregor holding and hitting. McGregor holding and hitting again. McGregor 20-18
Third round: McGregor with hammer fists to the top of the head. McGregor holding and hitting. McGregor is landing punches. Mayweather isn’t doing much here. Mayweather with body shot. McGregor with jabs. McGregor holding and hitting again. McGregor 30-27.
Fourth round: McGregor landing al kinds of punches. Mayweather looks bad, he’s doing nothing. Nice left by McGregor,. Mayweather back to the body. Now Mayweather coming back. McGregor is still landing more. Mayweather coming back now. McGregor is still landing a lot more Mayweather with a nice right. McGregor 40-36. This round could go either way. .
Fifth round: McGregor landing jabs. McGregor landing more punches. The key to this is this is not the Mayweather I’ve seen before, Mayweather landed a right. Mayweather now moving forward but he’s not throwing. McGregor landed a left. Mayweather shoved him after. Close round, I think Mayweather here, 49-46.
Sixth round: Mayweather turned his back to him. The announcers are saying Mayweather looks like a shadow of himelf. Mayweather is now taking over. It looks like he was waitng for McGregor to tire. McGregor is landing punches again. Mayweather landed but McGregor back. McGregor holding and hitting. Mayweather landed a good right. Mayweather’s round 58-56.
Seventh round: Mayweather with some body shots. McGregor hasn’t shown a lot of power in his punches. McGregor is landing but Mayweather’s shots are harder which is the oppostie of what people expected. McGregor holding and hitting again. Mayweather is starting to land solid punches. McGregor is tired now. Mayweather’s round 67-66 McGregor.
Eighth round: McGregor opened throwing punches. McGregor landed a nice left. Mayweather with two rights. Mayweather landing cleaner shots. Mayweather with solid shots but McGregor landed a combination. Close round but I’d go Mayweather 76-76 even after eight.
Ninth round: McGregor landed a good body shot. McGregor landing more now. McGregor is landing a lot of punches. Mayweather with a good right. Another hard right by Mayweather. Mayweather landing solid punches. Mayweather is hurting him with solid punches. McGregor is tired now. McGregor looks really tired now. Big left by Mayweather. Big right by Mayweahter. McGregor trying to tie him up. Mayweather landing big shots and McGregor is in trouble. Mayweather’s round 86-85 ahead for the first time.
Tenth round: Mayweather is landing big shots on him now. McGregor is about to go down. The ref stopped it. Mayweather won at 1:05 via TKO..
You have to call this a moral win for McGregor.
Mayweather said we gave people a good fight. Said McGregor was a lot better than I thought he was. Said he felt he owed people for the Pacquiao fight. The game plan was to let him shoot his heavy shots early. The game plan was for him to shoot heavy shots in the beginning, MMA is 25 minutes so they expected after 25 minutes he’d slow. Said he guaranteed everyone this fight wouldn’t go the distance. He thanked fans from Ireland. Asked him about 50-0, he said Rocky Marciano is a legend, he looks forward to going into the Hall of Fame and looks forward for Jim Gray going into the Hall of Fame as well. He said for sure this was his last night. Tonight I chose the right dance partner to dance with, Conor McGregor is a hell of a champion.
McGregor interview. Said he took the early rounds, but he’s composed, he’s not that fast but he’s composed. Said he thought it was close and an early stoppage, said he’d have liked to have let it keep going. Said he keeps wobbly and comes back. He’s more composed and more experienced in the latter part of the fight but that was 50 pro fights. I’ve been stranged and came back, I have to let it go. He said he thought it was fatigued. Let the man put me down. Said he was like that in the Diaz fight and came back. Said he’d fight in the UFC again. He said I thought it was close, had him in the early rounds. Said they should have let him go, said he was clear spoken and they shouildn’t have stopped it.
The stoppage was fair. He was exhausted. Mayweather did his game plan, rested up and waited for McGregor to tire.
McGregor did the right type of interview. Scores were 89-81, 89-82 and 87-83 . The judges gave Mayweather every round after round three. Honestly, the idea the first two scores were ridiculous because McGregor won the first three. After that there were close rounds before Mayweather took over late.
What may be the biggest one-day revenue generating fight in history is just hours away with Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor in a boxing match taking place tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The fight, or more accurately, the cash heist, is expected to generate between $600 million and $700 million between all the various revenue streams, or very close to a full year of WWE revenue and more than a full year of UFC revenue.
Advance orders on PPV and iPPV are said to be incredibly strong, although the Mayweather-Pacquiao record of 4.6 million buys was achieved with an incredible number of late buys, and nobody can predict whether that is going to happen today.
It’s pretty clear the buzz is enormous and it’s all over ESPN, with what has been ostensibly fair coverage portraying the fight as, despite what Bob Bennett of the Nevada Athletic Commission said, would be unsanctionable if it wasn’t for the amount of money it would generate given Mayweather is 49-0 and the best boxer of his generation, even if a little past his prime, and McGregor never having fought in a professional boxing match.
Another controversy much talked about is that Rocky Marciano, a legendary heavyweight, finished his career at 49-0, the same as Mayweather, and the feeling that this should not be the fight to break such a hallowed mark.
But the fight was sanctioned by the Nevada Athletic Commission, even though Bennett even conceded other commissioners told him they would not sanction the fight.
Still, saying this would be the biggest upset in the history of boxing if McGregor would win goes greatly against the odds, which on Bovada this morning had Mayweather at only -375 and McGregor at +285. On paper, those odds are ridiculously close for what most experts see as a mismatch and one that McGregor has only a very slim chance of winning, and an early knockout being the best chance.
Between 92 and 93 percent of the bets have been for McGregor, although the biggest money bets, by far, have been for Mayweather, including some bets of more than $1 million. Even though far more actual money has been bet on Mayweather, for the sports books, a McGregor knockout win would constitute a major disaster, beating out the Holly Holm win over Ronda Rousey as the worst night for the sports books in history for a fight.
It has been said, with the volume of betting, that this will likely be the best night in history, or the worst, ever for sports books, depending on the outcome.
Here’s tonight’s schedule —
There will be two live fights from 7-9 p.m. Eastern on the Fox Network:
Yordenis Ugas vs. Thomas Dulorme in a welterweight fight
Juan Hernandez vs. Jose Miguel Borrego in a welterweight fight
The PPV starts at 9 p.m. Eastern:
Andrew Tabiti vs. Steve Cunningham in a cruiserweight fight
Gervonta Davis vs. Francisco Fonseca in a junior lightweight fight
Badou Jack vs. Nathan Cleverly in a light heavyweight fight
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor in a super welterweight fight
Mayweather weighed in at 149.5 pounds and looked in great shape at that weight. He didn’t cut any weight since the fight is at 154 pounds. McGregor weighed in at 153 pounds, and is expected to go into the cage at 168 pounds, giving him a nearly 20 pound weight advantage.
The fight could be pivotal, as in some circles it’s being positioned as boxing vs. MMA, although the history of mixed matches shows in almost every case, it is the rules of the match that determine the winner, and this is under Mayweather’s rules.
But the reality is this fight is not as much boxing vs. MMA as the age-old of what is better between booking based on real sport credential or based on emotional fantasy. Unfortunately, the kind of attention this fight is getting and the public interest is one that greatly sways the reality of the modern fan into the latter camp.
For all the talk of UFC turning into pro wrestling, this has been the case in combat sports for a century, and based on the interest tonight, there is no sign at all that the public has changed.
There is a little known story, but this is actually not the first time Mayweather flirted with this kind of an idea. There was at least talk of a fight between Mayweather and Giorgio Petrosyan for May 3rd, 2014. Petrosyan at the time was the best kickboxer in the world.
Petrosyan was 76-1-2 in kickboxing, with his prior loss being six years earlier. But at a show in New York, Petrosyan was knocked out by Andy Ristie, and Mayweather lost interest in the gimmick fight, and fought Marcos Maidana on that date.
Another little known story is that Danny Hodge, before he became a pro wrestling superstar, but as an Olympic silver medalist in wrestling and undefeated three-time NCAA champion and arguably the most dominant college wrestler of all-time, went into pro boxing and there was talk of him getting a shot at then-champion Floyd Patterson.
But Patterson’s camp decided to go with Ingemar Johansson, for a 1959 fight at Yankee Stadium in New York, which Johansson won via third round knockout. Hodge had a 7-1 record at the time, but lost his next fight to Nino Valdes and never boxed again.
Like it or not, it’s finally here: Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather. All the talk, all the posturing, all the money: it all comes down to tonight over (maybe) 12 rounds.
To help commemorate this massive event, yours truly reviewed past interviews to get insight into how we arrived to this very day, giving us an interesting timeline and expert opinions.
We begin with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto in December when McGregor first got his license. We then move to when the fight was announced with insight from Yahoo’s Kevin Iole and Bleacher Report’s Patrick Wyman.
From there, we move to Newsday’s Mark LaMonica who was in attendance at the ill-fated Brooklyn media tour stop and then to The Guardian’s Josh Gross on the comparisions made between this fight and Inoki vs. Ali.
We wrap with two recent chats with MMA Fighting’s Esther Lin on her observations from the tour and Sherdog’s Jack Encarnacao on final thoughts as we get to Saturday.
Your unofficial, but truly amazing, Mayweather vs. McGregor pre-show is here:
