IT’S OFFICIAL! Now I know I am the anime guy here, but I have another passion that is combat sports. I dabble in the world of boxing once in a blue moon, but I know my MMA way more. However, the announcement that we all already know and love involves both worlds of MMA and boxing. Yes, we have a fight ladies and gentleman, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor have a date. Arguably one of the world’s greatest modern boxers shall be facing the UFC lightweight champion and superstar. As far as we can remember, MMA and boxing has been at war with each other when it comes to competing for viewers, but MMA has taken the lead in recent years. This has been obviously impacted with Mayweather’s retirement almost two years ago, with only a few stars taking the spotlight such as Manny Pacquiao, Wladimir Klitschko, and Anthony Joshua. But in about two months, we will see a new star emerge in the boxing ring. For today, we are going to take an in-depth look at the fight itself and the history between the two combat sports.

Fight Details

Little has been made known to the public about the details of the fight itself, but what has been revealed actually gives us a lot to go on. First off, when is the fight? Before the official media scrum of the fight took place, a lot of rumors took place when Mayweather ‘rented’ the MGM for an event sometime in August and a lot of people speculated that this would be the super fight we were looking forward to. But it was something entirely different and Dana White, president of the UFC and Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of “Mayweather Promotions” announced that the fight should take place on August 26th. MMA fans rejoice also when White even mentioned how McGregor expressed his desire to come back before the end of this year to defend his lightweight belt. The fight is also not going to take place in the MGM, but in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV. Tickets have not gone on sale yet, but there are site that have been showing otherwise. Recently on social media, Dana White was told by a fan saying he bought tickets, but said that the tickets were fake and that he will be the one the make official announcments on those tickets. Regardless, the tickets are expected to cost thousands of dollars, but we are holding our breaths until it is official. Either way, if you are like me, poor, we can chip in for the Pay-per-View showing. So far, I have not seen anything on the price of the PPV, but we expect it to be somewhere about $99 or more if it were to compare it to the price of the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao PPV. The event will be aired on “Showtime” with color-commentator, Mauro Ranallo. Other things to note are the glove size, which will be 10 oz., ‘12’ 3-minute rounds, and will be contested at 154 pounds; a weight that both fighters have competed and were champions in.

Fight Odds

Betting odds have already been speculated with Conor McGregor being the underdog at +400, meaning if you bet on him to win, a $100 bet can net you $400 in winnings. Mayweather Jr. is at a high -600, meaning if you bet on him to win, you need to bet $600 to win $100 in profit. If you are really into taking risks, if you bet that the fight will go to a draw, betting $100 for a draw to occur can net you a $3300 winning. Most casual fans would just write off McGregor to lose, not just because I am an MMA fan, but I can see the skills that McGregor has that can win him the fight. First off, McGregor has a 2-inch reach advantage over Mayweather, plus the added padding of the boxing gloves will give him a longer feeling than his usual 4 oz. MMA gloves. McGregor is also a southpaw fighter, meaning he fights in a right-foot forward, left-foot back stance. Leonard Ellerbe, who is Mayweather’s promoter, has mentioned how he feels that Mayweather has had trouble in the past with southpaw fighters. In McGregor’s most recent fight, he showcased his distance managing and power, which he can utilize against the fast boxer. One last quick McGregor advantage is how Mayweather has not fought in almost two years and ring rust is a reality, plus McGregor is still fresh off his November win over Eddie Alvarez. Then come Mayweather’s advantages, the first being that it is his world. McGregor is an MMA fighter who recently got his boxing license and will be fighting an undefeated champion. McGregor will be entering his world. Mayweather has been to the final bell of boxing fights, over and over, while McGregor has been only tuned to MMA rounds. And yes, the cardio to last effectively for boxing is not the same as MMA. So will McGregor have the cardio and endurance to manage his hand power to win the fight? We can only know when the fight takes place.

Boxing vs. MMA History

This is actually one of the first times to have an MMA fighter enter the boxing ring. There has only been three instances in the past where MMA superstars and Boxing superstars have met in the past and interestingly enough, it was the boxer who entered the MMA cage under MMA rules. The first well-documented time of boxing meeting MMA was back in 1976 when the late, great Muhammad Ali fought the Japanese professional wrestling star, Antonio Inoki. After 15 long rounds, the fight ended in a draw due to Inoki’s three fouls that deducted the points could have won him the fight.

The second time we see boxing versus MMA is 33 years after the first Boxing vs. MMA encounter was in Birmingham, Alabama in 2009. Again, we have the well-known boxer entering the MMA cage under MMA rules against a true veteran of the sport. The boxer and former WBO champion, Ray Mercer donned the 4 oz. gloves in his MMA debut standing across the cage from Tim Sylvia, the two-time UFC heavyweight champion and veteran of over 40 fights. At 6 feet, 8 inches, Tim Sylvia stood 7 inches over the at-then 48 year-old former champion and a lot of people expected Mercer to have a tough time getting past Sylvia’s 80-inch arm reach. Within 9 seconds of the very first round came the punch heard around the world as Ray Mercer completely knocked out the former UFC champ with only one punch. Oddly enough, that fight in 2009 was Mercer’s most recent fight in a combat sport; I’m guessing he wanted to retire from Mixed Martial Arts on top? Boxing finally entered the win column against MMA with Mercer’s spectacular knockout having the record stand at 1-0-1 (wins-losses-draws).

The last time we saw boxing meet MMA was 7 years ago in my birth town of Boston, Massachusetts at UFC 118. This was the first ever UFC event in TD Garden and the venue hosted a fight between the current IBF heavyweight champion, James Toney making his MMA debut against the first person to hold two UFC belts in different weight classes and the 5-time UFC world champion, Randy “The Natural” Couture. A lot of pre-fight hype was built, largely due to James Toney. He actually followed Dana White around the world to sign him a fight in the UFC and his persistence succeeded, but got him no easy MMA debut. Looking back to today, we see the opposite with the MMA fighter being the one who hyped up and suggested a potential super fight with the boxer. James Toney trained extensively for this fight, but the boxer soon found himself on the ground quickly and submitted to an arm-triangle or kata gatame in the first round. MMA ties up the record against boxing at 1-1-1. So will be see boxing or MMA come out with another win or draw again? Let me know after you read this in the comment section below!

What this fight means?

Fights like these come once in every...never! Look at the status of both fighters, two respected athletes and superstars of their sport who are coming together in a boxing ring to generate so much excitement in only one night. The only other time that I can recall in the past that generated this level of excitement was the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight. If you saw that fight, unfortunately the fight did not live up to the hype by any means. So why does mean it is different this time around? Well, it doesn’t, but it is something that imposes a new and dangerous challenge that prove to be the one that Mayweather cannot solve largely due to McGregor’s fight style and advantages. Plus it offers everyone the opportunity to look forward to something. Most of us are stuck in a mundane routine such as a job or have responsibilities that cause us to lose all excitement. However, with the announcement of this fight gives those who are interested to have the excitement to look forward to a future date in August. We might have trouble going to sleep or waking up excited due to the Mayweather-McGregor super fight. But with extreme hype and attention can bring extreme disappointment. It can be due to either a fighter getting hurt, contract dispute, or just the fight being plain boring (*Knock on wood*). So until the ink is dried on the contract, the fighters weigh in, and they step into that ring, I cannot view this fight as though it will be happening only because I have been disappointed several times in the past. Seriously, I have been disappointed; I was in person at UFC 175 when Stefan Struve got health problems literally right before he was getting right to walk out causing the fight to get cancelled. So now that you are hyped, who do you think will win? (I’m betting on McGregor) Are you going to host a viewing party with your friends and family? Or do barely care about this fight cause boxing isn’t your thing? Tell me in the comments below!!!