McGregor will fight Mayweather this August
Conor McGregor will take on the unbeaten boxer Floyd Mayweather in a much-discussed boxing match on August 26th in Las Vegas that is rumoured to earn both as much as $100million (£78.4m).
Both the UFC lightweight champion and Mayweather confirmed this over their social media accounts on Wednesday.
THE FIGHT IS ON. pic.twitter.com/KhW0u3jRft — Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) June 14, 2017
It has been described as a ‘farce’ while boxing legend Oscar de la Hoya said that boxing may never recover.
“My interest is in the health of boxing as a whole,” said De la Hoya, in an open Facebook post.
“Floyd’s and Conor’s motivation is clear. It’s money. In fact, they don’t even pretend it’s not.
“When the fight ends up being the disaster that is predicted, afterwards neither of them will need [boxing] any more. Floyd will go back to retirement and Conor will go back to the UFC. It’s a win-win for them. It’s a lose-lose for us.”
Mayweather, considered as the best boxer of his generation, was a five-weight world champion before he retired unbeaten in 2015 after 459 bouts, while McGregor has never boxed professionally.
McGregor, who has won 21 of his 24 MMA contests, is 28 while Mayweather is 40.
UFC president Dana White said the fight will be a standard 12-round boxing fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will be contested at 154 pounds, with 10-ounce gloves.
The weight is one category up from Mayweather’s last bout in September 2015, when he beat Andre Berto.
Leonard Ellerbe, chief executive of Mayweather Promotions, added: “There is a different feel from the Pacquiao fight. It is the unknown factor.
“There is not one place I go to with Floyd where he doesn’t get asked the question: ‘Floyd, are you going to fight Conor McGregor?’ All Floyd thinks about is fighting Conor McGregor.”
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