People around the globe will be watching the much-hyped fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor on Saturday at 9 p.m. EST in Las Vegas. Who is favored to win? Why is there such hype surrounding this fight?
The Daily Wire has you covered on the details of this fight — here are five things you need to know about it.
1. People are betting on McGregor, but the experts think that Mayweather will win. According to the New York Post, 89% of all betting action has been among people betting in favor of McGregor. In fact, Bookmaker Betfair is stating the Mayweather-McGregor fight is going down as “the most heavily wagered boxing bout in the firm’s history.”
McGregor’s odds are at 3 to 1; he had initially opened up under much longer odds of 11 to 1.
And yet, Mayweather is clearly the more likely one to win the fight since he has much more experience, is more of a technically sound boxer, and has a perfect 49-0 record in fights. But everyone’s betting on McGregor because Mayweather is widely disliked.
“A lot of people hate Mayweather and a lot of people want to see him get knocked out, and make some money,” Zach Jornlin told the New York Post.
2. Mayweather is disliked by numerous people because of his attitude and history of domestic violence. Mayweather has pled guilty to several instances of domestic violence, including hitting Josie Harris, who is the mother of three of his children, in 2011. Harris claims that Mayweather was infuriated when he discovered that Harris was dating someone and that he threatened to kill her and the man she was dating.
“I had bruises on my body and contusions and [a] concussion because the hits were to the back of my head,” Harris told Yahoo! Sports in 2013.
As if the domestic violence past isn’t enough, Mayweather’s attitude tends to rub people the wrong way. Bleacher Report‘s Nedu Obi pointed out that Mayweather’s massive ego has caused him to state “that he’s better than Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson” as well as make remarks about one of his prior opponents, Manny Pacquiao, that were deemed as racist and homophobic. Obi did defend Mayweather, claiming most successful people have major egos and trash-talking is a staple in sports like boxing.
3. Things have become heated between Mayweather and McGregor. There has naturally been some trash talk between Mayweather and McGregor, including Mayweather declaring on Tuesday that “McGregor is extremely heavy right now.”
“He’s gotta get that weight down,” Mayweather told FightHype.com. “A true champion is disciplined and very responsible. But we’ll see … I don’t think he’s gonna make the weight.”
There is a 154-pound limit, and Mayweather claimed that McGregor is ten pounds heavier, which would require him to pay a fine.
But the trash-talking turned physical at the Grand Arrival ceremony on Tuesday, when Mayweather and McGregor’s crews each walked toward each other and then suddenly a fight broke out. The Independent described it as “a large melee.”
McGregor told The Daily Telegraph, “I said to him ‘are you afraid?’ Then some of the goons that were with him started pushing and shoving. Why not face off? What’s he worried about.”
He later added, “I’ll knock him out in one or two rounds. I’ll flatten him.”
4. Racial remarks have been used in the pre-fight hype. Via The Washington Post:
In press tours stops in Los Angeles and Toronto, McGregor said to Mayweather, “Dance for me, boy.” In a subsequent tour stop in Brooklyn, following criticism of those remarks, McGregor explained he couldn’t be racist because he was “half-black from the belly button down.” He then thrust his pelvis as a gesture “to all my beautiful black female fans.” Mayweather has since stated many people believe McGregor is racist and dedicated the fight to “all the blacks around the world.
The Post report also noted that “race has been used as a marketing ploy” in prior boxing matches, and that’s likely what’s occurring. It still doesn’t help matters, given the recent protests in Charlottesville.
5. Fifty million people in the United States alone are expected to watch Saturday’s fight. When added to the millions of other people that will be watching the fight around the world, it’s easy to see why The Guardian proclaimed that the fight is poised “to break viewing records.” Clearly the fight is going to be the big sporting event of the month, if not the whole summer.