Mayweather vs. McGregor- The Lead Up

Wednesday, August 09, 2017

Oregon Sports News Team

The upcoming professional boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor is known as The Money Fight, and the undefeated 11-time 5-division pro boxing world champion will be taking on the current UFC lightweight champion at the T-Mobile Arena in Nevada on the 26 of August this year.

Background on Mayweather Jr.

Floyd Joy Sinclair was born on the 24th of February 1977, and this American pro boxer works as a promoter as well. He is almost globally considered to be one of the greatest boxers in the history of the sport, and his career is marked by not a single defeat. He is a 5-division world champion, and has won a total of 15 world titles, along with the lineal championship in 4 different weight classes, albeit twice as a welterweight. As an amateur boxer he took home a bronze medal in the 1996 Olympic featherweight division; three US Golden Gloves championships, twice for flyweight and once for featherweight; as well as the top title for the US National Championship in the featherweight division.

History of Conor McGregor

Born Conor Anthony McGregor, this Irishman is a professional mixed martial artist who is currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, promotion. He is the reigning champion in the lightweight division, and formerly held the top title in the featherweight division also. He has, in fact, competed in three different divisions over the course of his career: featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight.

The Odds on the Upcoming Match

Australian betting sites are going crazy, to say the least, with this match deemed to be one of the most important in the sport’s history!

After McGregor’s victory at UFC 205 over Eddie Alvarez, speculation started up once more, blowing up social media and talk show platforms, which resulted in Bovada, the online sportsbook, setting odds for the fight.

Of course Mayweather initially opened as the overall favourite, coming in at -2250, with McGregor standing at +950. On the day that the fight was officially declared, however, Mayweather’s odds dropped to -800, and McGregor’s evened out at +500. And the odds are still moving as the two fighters step up the tension with verbal bouts for the media and fans.

Boxing pundits hold firmly to the opinion that Mayweather is going to thrash McGregor, a fair assessment when one considers that the plucky Irishman has not one ounce of experience in the professional boxing ring. The boxing legend is bringing a perfect 49 – 0 record to the ring, and is famous for his counterpunching, defensive fighting style. McGregor is going to struggle to lay any type of significant strike on Mayweather.

The Irishman does have some factors working in his favour, however: he is younger than Mayweather, bigger than the boxer is, and is famous for not only very powerful punching, but the accuracy of his blows as well. A rudimentary scan of his history in the UFC reveals that he has put down men who have never experienced a knockout, or ever dropped, and the argument could be made that he has the best hands in the MMA’s history.