Mayweather and McGregor put all chips on the table in megafight

He was, of course, not dead at all despite numerous and persistent suggestions to contrary. Like the sport of boxing.

It’s been dead for years, been dead for decades, for a century. It’s been in a perpetual state of death for more than a hundred years.

First it died with Jack Dempsey. Then it died it with Joe Louis. It met it’s demise again with Sugar Ray Robinson, with Muhammad Ali, with Mike Tyson. Dying one death after another.

In fact, boxing is so dead, that millions upon millions of people are going to tune into the biggest sporting event of the year on Sunday (Australian time) that will take place, wait for it… in a boxing ring.

Shrewd readers might detect a hint of sarcasm in your columnist’s tone. The long-winded point is, people have been declaring boxing dead for more than a century and it’s still here.

There are plenty who feel Sunday’s Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor bout is another supposed nail in that coffin. It’s coming from partisans on both sides of the fence.

Boxing purists are lamenting that the bout makes a joke of the sport. They urge fans to boycott the fight, save the coin and put it on the upcoming Canelo v GGG fight. That, they say, is a real superfight and they’re right.

UFC fans are gloating. Boxing needed the biggest name in their sport to make a mega-fight? Once Conor knocks this old guy out then we can really say that the sport has been swallowed.

Either way, both men laugh all the way to the bank but, cash aside, the question you have to ask is, who really has the most to lose?

At first glance that’s obviously Mayweather. He’s putting that precious 0 on the line and his claims to being TBE. However, if you cast an objective eye over it, it’s a calculated wager he can easily afford.

The overwhelming likelihood is that he will win and win easily. Of course it’s a gamble but, like he’s always done as a boxer and businessmen, Floyd has minimised risk. It’s a fight sport, that risk can never be completely eliminated, but it’s fractional.

The perception that it’s a win-win scenario for McGregor Dana White and the UFC is grossly flawed. Best-case scenario he lands that big punch people keep talking about and shocks the world. Worst-case he becomes the 50^th person to lose to one of the best to ever do it. No big deal right?

In reality, that’s not the worse case scenario and seems few on that side of the fence have really considered it. What should be more worrisome than it apparently is to White and co. is that it’s also the most likely scenario. 

You have the admire the Irishman’s style and appetite for going all-in. We all admired his kahunas for stepping up in weight to take on Nate Diaz, but that was a gamble he lost.

This gamble’s an even bigger one. In the likely case that Mayweather wins, there’s every chance he’ll make McGregor look very foolish in doing so. Do you really think McGregor’s star wouldn’t lose some of it’s shine.

For $100 million, McGregor can afford it, but the UFC really can’t with Ronda Rousey dramatically knocked off her perch and Jon Jones’ redemption story now in ruins due to a second, and possibly career-ending, positive drug test.

It’s once again put the spotlight on PED use in the sport and brought the UFC’s own lukewarm reaction to outlawing it back into question. The last thing the company needs right now is for it’s biggest star to be shot down.

Of course, McGregor could do the unthinkable and stop Mayweather. If that happens, the pay-off is monumental but it’s unlikely. If the the more likely scenario plays out, McGregor and the UFC might not realise how many chips they had on the table until they’re gone.