Floyd Mayweather Jr. will come out of retirement and put his unbeaten record on the line against UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor in a blockbuster fight on August 26 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. According to UFC president Dana White, the bout will be a 12-round contest at 154 pounds with both fighters using 10-ounce gloves.
Earlier, the Nevada Athletic Commission granted a request from Mayweather Promotions to schedule a boxing card on Aug. 26. Mayweather Promotions will be the lead promoter while the card will be shown via Showtime pay-per-view.
Both fighters are expected to earn in excess of $100 million. This will be Mayweather’s second nine-figure earning since pocketing around $250 million from his fight against Manny Pacquiao in May 2015. McGregor, for his part, will earn his biggest payday as an MMA fighter.
Mayweather stakes perfect record vs McGregor
Mayweather had an immaculate 49-0 record when he retired in 2015. During his last bout, he narrowly beat Andre Berto in September before announcing his decision to hang up his gloves. Now, Mayweather will end his retirement to face McGregor, who was the first UFC fighter to hold two titles simultaneously. McGregor captured the UFC featherweight title after beating Jose Aldo via a 13-second knockout in 2015 and added the lightweight belt with a knocking win over Eddie Alvarez in 2016.
Mayweather overwhelming favorite to win
According to Westgate sports book oddsmaker Jeff Sherman, Mayweather is pegged as a minus-1000 favorite while McGregor, who has never boxed before, is plus-650 underdog. Earlier, boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya criticized the planned bout between Mayweather and McGregor, saying boxing will not recover from it once the fight pushes through.
De La Hoya said boxing will suffer the consequences if the fight ends up being a disaster.
Nate Diaz, who beat McGregor (21-3) via a rear-naked choke in the second round of their fight at UFC 196 last March, said the showdown between McGregor and Mayweather will be a battle for the No. 2 spot. The fight is anticipated to approach or surpass the record 4.6 million pay-per-views set by the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout.
Showtime Sports executive vice president and general manager Stephen Espinoza described the Mayweather-McGregor bout as “unprecedented”. Espinosa said there has been a overwhelming clamor from fans, whether it's boxing or MMA, for this fight and “it's great to be able to deliver”.
