To quote Russell Crowe's character, Maximus in “Gladiator,” "Are you not entertained?"
It’s official, per Floyd Mayweather’s Instagram account. It’s even more official per Conor McGregor and ESPN. August 26 has been cemented as the date and the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas will be the site of the friendly merger between boxing and mixed martial arts. Will the debate finally be settled in a way that is more satisfying than comparing apples to oranges? To quote Russell Crowe’s character, Maximus in 2000’s Gladiator, “Are you not entertained?”
This Saturday, June 17 in Vegas, a warranted and legitimate fight is taking place, yet few seem to care and the news of the inevitable showdown of sorts between Floyd and Conor has stolen the thunder. In truth, there’s nothing wrong with that and a promoter’s job is to give the public what they want. Let’s not forget that boxing has failed to do this to some degree. In a sense, we seemed to know that regardless of how long the aforementioned merger which will actually turn out to be more of a liquidation or hostile takeover remained in our peripheral view, it would eventually gain adequate steam.
There’s not much of a debate to have because despite how one may feel about this farce, the event will undoubtedly sell out in a few hours and a nice pay-per-view tally is sure to follow. Kudos to Floyd and his team as well as Dana White and company. Money never sleeps and just when we thought we were able to move on, we’ll be reminded that “Money” can still fight. Floyd’s already in the neighborhood of being a -$1,100 favorite per early betting lines. There’s not much difference from his past fights, is there? McGregor is +$700. Some of Mayweather’s past opponents such as Robert Guerrero and Andre Berto may faced similar, farfetched odds.
Lastly, is anyone complaining that this fight should have been held in AT&T Stadium in Arlington or somewhere comparable enough to keep the blue-collar fan in mind? Nonsense and not so just because the Raiders will be playing visitor to the Cowboys that particular Saturday evening. No one expected Floyd and his MMA challenger to fight anywhere other than Sin City. Too much green at stake, which is why Canelo Alvarez’s upcoming bout with Gennady “GGG” Golovkin was never seriously considered for anywhere else. There’s our answer. Some of us may actually cheer for Floyd because after all, he’s part of the “40 and over” crowd now.
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