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Unusual anxiety about the biggest “money” fight ever not selling out in advance
By Zach Arnold | August 11, 2017

Two weeks ago, The Associated Press reported that tickets were not sold out for the Floyd Mayweather/Conor McGregor fight in Las Vegas. As of today, nothing has changed. There’s reportedly been a cooling off of ticket sales and sponsorship appeal.
“This isn’t a damn Rolling Stones concert. That’s the only thing that sells out in seconds.”
Is this the kind of language you would expect from participants in the biggest money fight ever booked for combat sports?
Initially, it rings hollow. The fight is going to attract a ton of eyeballs, both on Fox for the undercard and on PPV platforms. Everyone is going to be a winner, as Mayweather recently told Stephen A. Smith in a sit-down interview. The IRS will win, for sure.
So why the panic? Why the anxiety? Why make moves like petitioning the Nevada State Athletic Commission for eight ounce gloves and putting that beleagured AC in a negative spotlight once again?
Remember what the expectations were before the Mayweather & McGregor press tour. A sold out MGM Grand Garden Arena (now T-Mobile Arena). An over/under of 5 million worldwide PPV buys. After the press tour, the media predictably soured on the antics. Betting margins started widening with sharps starting to place money on Mayweather. Odds for the fight were ridiculously in the 5-to-1 Mayweather favorite range.
The @southpointlv took a $880,000 bet today on Floyd Mayweather to beat Conor McGregor at -550 odds. The bet would net $160,000.
— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) August 11, 2017
Then came the Paulie Malignaggi stunt from Conor’s camp. Floyd comes out and says he’s going to beat up Conor McGregor for all black people while claiming that he’s “lost a step” and has had some shoulder issues.
Mayweather’s camp built a fight on pure money-grabbing bravado. They didn’t hide their motives at all. Now they’re trying to find their soul and pimp whatever they can out of it. I think they’re confusing vanity for soul.
For such an easy fight and such a historic debacle, you would think Floyd Mayweather would be happy. His camp’s actions show anxiety, even a touch of panic… not because of the prospects of Conor McGregor winning but because of the prospects of not finding seat-fillers for an event sellout. Bizarre.
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I believe Floyd was dangling an imaginary carrot on front of Connor in the form of 8 oz gloves. Knowing full well they wouldn’t be approved.
Aug is all talk no action from the UFC. And I think they potentially dug themselves a hole/divot by passing on aug. I thought Bellator might have done a special show with Mousasi to suck in some ufcless viewers. But they dont offer much for aug either…but there are a few decent shows….
Road fc 41 12th
next fri 18th is One fc, Legacy and M-1
on the 25th bellator and legacy have weak events, because “The biggest fight in the history of the world” is on the 26th.
Then ufc comes out of hibernation sept 2 with one of the weakest cards in the last 5 years headlined by a bellator reject. And follows up with a main eventless PPV called DJ vs Borg… Way to capitalize on “The biggest fight in the history of the world” ufc.
Also, can someone explain to me why snoop dog is hanging with faber watching fights, getting stoned with fighters, and just generally getting stoned and grabbing that demographic, while Nick Diaz is not?
That alone shows how myopic the ufc is.
With may-pac, the climate of the online space was much more tame than it is now. While the fans demanded the fight on social media, how many of those demands will actually equal ppv buys? Or buys in the live arena? We will see. Hearing Conor’s coach say he just wants to get back to MMA didn’t exactly instill confidence. And on the Mayweather side it looks like business as usual.
Looks like Floyd is trying to distract with the glove size and racism accusations. The one time I saw Conor visibly flustered was when he had to defend himself against being a racist.
Changing the rules to allow for smaller gloves for a fight that should never have been sanctioned, just shows how completely corrupt boxing is. I can just see the ac discussion on this one,
“well its against the rules, and the doctors say its not good idea health wise, but this 49-0 superboxer specifically requested smaller gloves so’s he can hurt a fighter who’s never had a boxing match in his life. Should we look out for the health and safety of the fighters?”
“No”
Well obviously thats not what went down, but whats the rational for it?