Still No Mayweather-McGreggor? Why not Mayweather-Pacquiao II?
By Ralph Rimpell
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 12 May 2017
For about a year and a half there has been talk, a buildup, or an unofficial promotion of boxing great Floyd ?Money? Mayweather (49-0,26KOs) fighting UFC MMA star Connor McGregor (0-0,0KOs)*.
Most hardcore boxing fans and Boxing writers dismiss it as a mismatch. However to the casual boxing fan that is part of the Mainstream there appears to be much interest. Therefore negotiations for this commercial fight are ongoing for some time now. Mr. Mayweather publicly said he would have to be guaranteed a purse of $100 million to end his retirement and fight McGregor. Mr. McGregor?s fight purse demands have been reportedly high as well. Reports are UFC (the organization who has McGregor under contract) want 50% of what McGregor stands to earn against Mayweather. The reports of who wants ?this, that, and a third?, as the expression goes is never ending. Dana White, Head of the UFC, has recently said there will come a point where he will walk away from this potential match up because of both sides not coming to an agreement. The average person would think that with so much money to made (Millions) from this commercial fight it only makes financial sense to work out a deal to everyone?s satisfaction as soon as possible.
According to this writer, when you?re already a Millionaire or Billionaire you can afford to reportedly make silly unreasonable demands and fight over percentages like those negotiating the potential Mayweather-McGregor fight are reportedly doing. If you?re broke (live paycheck to paycheck) like most people, then your inclined to make a good financial decision immediately when the opportunity to make millions presents itself. As much as this writer is not interested in Mayweather-McGregor, I do think the fight will be signed and will likely crack 1 million -1.5 million PPV buys at a retail value of $69.99, not $99.99. Why? Let?s not kid ourselves folks! Mayweather is not coming out of retirement to fight middleweight champion Gennady ?Easy Work? Golovkin who will fight Canelo Alvarez in a September Mega fight. If that were the case, one could compare it to Sugar Ray Leonard coming out of retirement to fight Marvelous Marvin Hagler back in 1987, but that is not the case. Rather, Mayweather is coming out of retirement to fight against an MMA fighter with zero boxing experience. The intrigue for some is can McGregor on what would in effect be his boxing professional debut defeat the boxing legend Mayweather who is now 40 years old but officially undefeated professionally in a boxing career that has spanned almost 19 years thus far. The longer the fight goes without being signed, the more likely the whole idea will implode.
Sources say Mayweather wants to improve his final record to 50-0 before he truly retires and earn another $100 million plus payday. If that is not possible against McGregor, who else is there other than Pacquiao or Golovkin that can secure the kind of payday Mayweather wants?
Pacquiao and his representatives have done everything but camp out in front of Mayweather?s Mansion with a sign saying: PLEASE GIVE ME A REMATCH! Why not a rematch with Pacquiao should he get past Jeff Horn and also look good in the process? Both sides, Mayweather?s camp and Pacquiao?s camp would have learned from past experiences (Mayweather-Pacquiao I) that negotiations require good faith ?give and take? in terms of negotiating a Mega fight. Mayweather?s camp would also have the experience of the potential negotiation failure of Mayweather-McGregor. The potential Commercial success (Revenue of half a billion dollars) the Mayweather camp is looking for can be found in a Pacquiao rematch and the scrutiny of fighting McGregor being a mismatch to reach 50-0 would not be said of a match against Pacquiao if Mayweather should once again prevail. This writer would love to see UFC MMA fighters stick to their sport and Boxers stick to theirs, but it may not work out that way. If by June 1, 2017 Mayweather-McGregor is not signed, sealed and ready to be delivered on a specific date, then why not Mayweather-Pacquiao II? That fight would certainly be easier to make because the blueprint already exist.
*McGregor has never fought professionally as a fighter. His UFC MMA record is 21-3, 18KOs.
Contact Writer: RLuvsboxing@aol.com
***Ralph Rimpell is a writer based out of New York and is a Boxing Correspondent for Philboxing.com. Ralph holds an undergraduate degree from City University of New York. He has been a Boxing Writer for over ten years having written for several top boxing websites on the World Wide Web. Before becoming a writer, Ralph's passion was for professional wrestling until he realized professional wrestling was entertainment and not a real sport. It was at that time the 1984 US Olympic team made up of future stars such as Evander Holyfield, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, etc. entered the professional ranks and signed with promotional outfit Main Events.It was also at that time a young exciting Heavyweight originally hailing from Brooklyn named Mike Tyson also turned professional and became the face of boxing. Young boxing fan Ralph just couldn't get enough of boxing as a large part of it was being broadcast on "free TV". As time went on, Ralph felt boxing writers were not being forthcoming with their boxing coverage, opinion pieces, interviews, etc. So Ralph decided to write an article and submitted it to a Boxing website thinking it would be deleted and ignored by the Editor. To Ralph's surprise his article was posted on their website and the readers embraced it. The rest is history.
"I thank God for the Internet because it has created opportunities for writers like myself who likely would not have been given an opportunity to write for print publications. I hope someday soon to expand my role in Boxing on different levels." -- Ralph Rimpell
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ralph Rimpell.
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