We are so tempted to just put “NO” or “LOL” in this article but that would be shortchanging our readers akin to how Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather are swindling people into buying pay-per-views for their match. Below is our take on this fight.
Can Conor McGregor defy the odds and beat Floyd Mayweather?
The fight between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather sounds just as stupid today as it was before it was officially announced last June. The only difference is that right now, we know for sure that this clownfest is actually going to happen.
Stupid, however, doesn’t necessarily mean boring, especially in this scenario which pits two fighters with outwardly brash and obnoxious personalities against each other. We know people are going to watch. We know celebrities are going to be sitting ringside. We know that despite the varying levels of disgust we have for each fighter, we are going to want to know what transpires in the bout.
But while a lot of people are very much certain that Mayweather is going to beat McGregor, there’s a significant movement on the betting lines since odds were first released suggesting that a pretty good number of bettors are expecting (or at least hoping) for a McGregor upset. Before the fight was made official, Topbet had Mayweather at -2,000 odds, while McGregor sat on a +1,000 price. That was back in January. Huge action from the public has dramatically shifted those odds with Mayweather’s odds shortening to just -700 and McGregor’s going +450 as of the moment. Here’s more from Dave Purdum of ESPN:
At Caesars Palace sportsbooks, 140 of the first 144 bets were on McGregor, who was paying back around 5-1. Almost all of the early action was small and placed by recreational bettors. One sportsbook manager described it as “square-a-palooza.”
Obviously, there isn’t a shortage in people who believe that the impossible would happen this coming August 26 in Las Vegas—that Mayweather’s 49-0 record, along with his boxing legacy, will finally get tarnished by some dude who has zero professional boxing experience and could barely land a punch against a sparring partner. That’s not going to happen. McGregor belongs in a different sport and has absolutely no business being in the same ring as Mayweather, the greatest boxer of this generation and arguably the best of all time.
Sure upsets do happen often in boxing and that Buster Douglas defeated Mike Tyson a couple of decades ago but at least Douglas was a boxer. McGregor isn’t. If the most brilliant offensive fighters of this generation all came up swinging in empty air against Mayweather, how can McGregor hurt Mayweather without resorting to a spinning head kick?
Okay, let’s give McGregor some shine and try to sound like he’s got a shot at winning. First, Mayweather is old for a boxer. He’s 40 now and has been away from boxing for over two years. Mayweather could possibly have lost a step and his chin is now more brittle than ever. McGregor has a heavy punch, which Jose Aldo could attest, and it takes just one crisp left straight right in Mayweather’s face to end the fight. Then again, that’s the same tactic eight-division champion and future boxing Hall of Famer (and a southpaw like McGregor) Manny Pacquiao had a hard time executing against Mayweather in 2015. McGregor isn’t on Pacquiao’s boxing level.
All things considered, this isn’t going to be much of fight but rather a boxing clinic put up by Mayweather. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to a forum to debate who between LeBron James and Simone Biles would win in a one-on-one basketball game.
