Mayweather vs. McGregor: Everything You Need to Know

It’s almost here. The fight night of the year. The biggest fight of all fights, millions of dollars in hype and anticipation will culminate this Saturday from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas when the undefeated Floyd Mayweather faces the UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor in 12 rounds of boxing. The bars will be packed, your Facebook feed will be flying, the fighter’s mouths have been on a world tour, and you might need to know the hard facts to keep up. Here is a preview with videos and hard numbers to give you all you need to know before the bell rings.

FLOYD ‘MONEY’ MAYWEATHER

Age: 40

Height: 5’8

Weight: 151

Reach: 72

Record: 49-0 / 26 KOs

‘THE NOTORIOUS’ CONOR MCGREGOR

Age: 29

Height: 5’9

Weight: 153 (*Expected to fight at 170)

Reach: 74

Record (Boxing) : (0-0) / (MMA): (21-3)

Mayweather is heavily favored to win the fight, but the oddsmakers have reported wild numbers coming in with nearly $60 million currently being on the line for those betting on this mega-bout. ESPN reported that 93% of the betters are going with the risk on McGregor to turn in an upset, but several million dollar big bets have been behind Mayweather. ESPN breaks it all down here.

Mayweather comes out of retirement at 40 years of age and two years away from the ring, and boxing experts say it could be his easiest fight in his hall of fame career and bring him the legacy-cementing 50-0 status. ‘Money’ has displayed the greatest defensive skills of any boxer, taking very little damage in his bouts and winning his crafted skill.
McGregor is the longshot but who has promised to win his first ever boxing bout against the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter in the first four rounds. As outlandish as his talk maybe, the Irish mixed-martial artist does not have a soft chin and has the cardio. Two-weight champion Andre Ward said today “anything can happen” today prior to the weigh-in, which is true. McGregor has the motivation and confidence in knowing he does not has much to lose as his opponent but most of all, he has 11 years of youth.

My take: Mayweather wins this fight, but if McGregor can go the distance into 6th round territory he will will walk away from the ring with merit and respect earned for MMA. Almost like the fictional fight in the first ‘Rocky’ film, Rocky Balboa just had to go the distance to walk away the proverbial winner.

Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor

TV lineup for the Mayweather Promotions card on Saturday (Showtime PPV, 9 p.m. ET) from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas:

  • Junior middleweights: Floyd Mayweather (49-0, 26 KOs) vs. Conor McGregor (0-0), 12 rounds
  • Junior lightweights: Gervonta Davis (18-0, 17 KOs) vs. Francisco Fonseca (19-0-1, 13 KOs), 12 rounds, for Davis’ world title
  • Light heavyweights: Nathan Cleverly (30-3, 16 KOs) vs. Badou Jack (20-1-3, 12 KOs), 12 rounds, for Cleverly’s world title
  • Cruiserweights: Andrew Tabiti (14-0, 12 KOs) vs. Steve Cunningham (29-8-1, 13 KOs), 10 rounds

Preliminary bouts on Fox (7 p.m. ET):

  • Welterweights: Thomas Dulorme (24-2, 18 KOs) vs. Yordenis Ugas (19-3, 9 KOs), 10 rounds
  • Junior welterweights: Juan Heraldez (12-0, 8 KOs) vs. Jose Miguel Borrego, 10 rounds

Start time: While the PPV begins at 9 p.m. ET, the main event won’t begin before 11 p.m. ET and could start as late as around midnight ET.