Is Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor Worth Buying?
By Loot, Boxing Handicapper, Lootmeister.com
We are at fight week and potential fight viewers around the world now try to determine if the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight itself is worth buying. There are different elements at play, ones that would cause you to buy the PPV and ones that would cause you to eschew this event entirely. And for $100, that's a pretty steep price for a PPV. Not everyone can just plunk down a Ben Franklin without giving it a second thought. Let's look at the particulars and see if we can figure out if it's worth the loot.
Not Wanting to be a Sucker: This would be the main concern of a lot of people—hardcore fight fans and casual fans alike. No one wants to feel like sheep. When this fight was made, it wasn't because of the mix of styles or any real need to see the best from boxing and MMA face each other. It was designed as a money-grab—pure and simple. And no one feels great when dutifully playing the role of the providers of money, while everyone disappears into the night with hundreds of millions of dollars, leaving the fans feeling ripped off.
On the surface, a money-grab is what this appears to be first and foremost. Floyd Mayweather gets to add another gigantic payday to his account, while Conor McGregor collects a huge check, along with all the other big-wigs like Dana White who are poised to rake in the big bucks. That is what is behind the making of this fight. It's entirely dependent on the public eating it up and the fight was made because they knew they would.
Serious fight fans and less-hardcore fans both will be avoiding this fight for the very reason that they don't want to be a sucker. It's an understandable sentiment. The hype itself is almost insulting, such an obvious ploy to drum up support. At the end of the day, it's a 49-0 boxer against a guy making his pro debut. While that fails to really tell the whole story, it's the bottom-line. And no amount of hype or smokescreens will convince people of otherwise.
The Historic Angle: From this standpoint, it makes sense buying the fight. It's a historic fight, a first on many levels. We are at a time in the evolution of combat sports where we have two viable and separate sports—boxing and MMA. While there has been some crossover before, there was nothing like this when the two best from each sport fought each other. It is therefore significant without the fight itself even needing to be particularly entertaining or competitive.
Regardless of how the fight transpires, it's still a fight that will become historic. People will refer to it, especially as boxing and MMA fans continue the absurd debating back and forth about the worth of each sport. At root, whenever two top athletes from different sports match up, it's significant on some levels. Think about all the pay per views you have purchased over the years that were forgotten the following day. If anything, this event will be remembered. On that level, it makes sense to buy it.
The Merit of the Fight: This is really what it all comes down to and it's an analysis that can only be made with accuracy after the fight. Whether this is worth buying or not comes down in large part to the quality of the fight. So it is result-based in many respects. If the fight is a stinker and it is uncompetitive with Mayweather dominating the action as many suspect, one might feel like a sucker by the end of the night. That will especially be the case when considering you could have spent that money on what is likely a far-superior fight in the upcoming GGG vs. Canelo PPV and still had money for pizza and beer.
For those who do not buy the fight, however, they are hoping that the fight is an effortless clinic by Floyd where the drama is at a minimum. Because if it's more than that, one will probably feel regretful for having missed out on something historic, or at the very least something surprising. The bottom line is that we really do not know. The opinions for this fight are very stark, with a lot of boxing purists very cavalier in dismissing McGregor's chances. Not that they're wrong, but if they are, a lot of people will wish they had seen it live.
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The Final Verdict: It's very difficult to balance not wanting to miss history with not wanting to be taken for a fool. To miss the fight is a gamble in itself. If you sense a stinker and have been burned on numerous other Mayweather pay per view events where the drama was minimal, it's understandable that you wouldn't want to put yet another $100 in the Floyd coffers. At the same time, to miss something crazy happening to Mayweather after all these years in the final chapter would be a hard pill to swallow.
There is just something so unique about this fight that makes it hard to miss. And as the fight approaches, our "spidey senses" are tingling a bit. It seems like there is something weird in the air, like we're all about to see something big. That doesn't mean it's going to be great or a tremendous value on your PPV dollar. It's just that we've all parted with a $100 bill for a lot more-foolish things than this where there was no chance we were going to witness history.
