MAYWEATHER-MCGREGOR MATCH COMPARED TO ALI-INOKI CONTROVERSIAL FIGHT
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 27 Aug 2017
Thousands of boxing and mixed martial arts fanatics filled the T-Mobile Arena to witness Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor weigh-in for their 12-round boxing match on Saturday. Scalpers sold the complimentary tickets to the weigh-in for as high as $75. Mayweather, now 40, weighed at 149? pounds. The 29-year-old McGregor tipped in the scale at 153 pounds.
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Rumors circulating McGregor?s difficulty to make the weight limit was proven to be untrue. The UFC superstar said that he expects to weigh approximately 170 pounds when they meet atop the ring, at least 15 pounds more than that of the former pound-for-pound king.
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The Irish MMA superstar has fought the welterweight limit of 170 pounds with those fights against Nate Diaz. McGregor returned to the lightweight division, with a weight limit of 155 pounds, to win the UFC lightweight title from Eddie Alvarez in his latest fight on November 12 at the Madison Square Garden.
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"This is a farce," commented Top Rank Boxing chief executive officer Bob Arum. "McGregor is OK as an MMA fighter but he's a boxing neophyte." Arum said how long the fight would last is in Mayweather's hands. "It will last as long as they want it to last, two or three rounds maybe. He can knock McGregor out whenever he wants."
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The Mayweather-McGregor cross-fight would be always compared to the fight between American boxer Muhammad Ali and Japanese professional wrestler Antonio Inoki which was held in Tokyo on June 26, 1976. Ali and Inoki's camps began to renegotiate the rules in the days leading to the fight and imposed restrictions on Inoki.
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Inoki would not be allowed to throw, grapple or tackle Ali, and could not land any kicks unless he had one knee on the mat. Throughout the fight Inoki was on his back kicking Ali's legs, sometimes connecting. Ali did not throw his first punch until the seventh round. In the tenth, Ali threw his second punch, and two more in the thirteenth and punched only a total six times during the fight.
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The fight went the fifteen round distance and was scored as a draw amidst the boos of the unsatisfied crowd. Inoki had scored three points up but was deducted all three for fouls. Inoki claimed he would have won had it not been for the penalties, whereas Ali defended himself by saying his opponent had cheated.
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The crossover MMA to boxing match is compared to Olympic sprinter and four gold medal winner Jessie Owens racing against horses in the 1940s to earn a few dollars to alleviate his poverty. Also a 150m showdown between Canadian 100m Atlanta Olympic champion Donovan Bailey and American 200m gold medalist Michael Johnson of the United States that ended in jeers when Johnson quit the race limping.
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Another crossover match was the battle of the sexes in 1973 between Billie Jean King versus former Wimbledon champion Bobby Riggs, then aged 55 won by King in straight sets, a victory for women's liberation. John Surtees was a four-time 500cc motorcycle world champion in 1956, 1958, 1959 and 1960 and the Formula One world champion in 1964, and remains the only person to become world champion on both two and four wheels.
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Miguel Cotto is unfazed by the Mayweather-McGregor fight Saturday which coincided with his fight with Yoshihiro Kamegai. Cotto said he plans to fight again by the end of the year their fight at the StubHub Center. Cotto?s Hall of Fame legacy is already assured, after beating Shane Mosley near his peak in 2006 and resurrected from a terrible beating from Antonio Margarito.
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Cotto is a five-time former world champion, and the first boxer from Puerto Rico to win world titles in four different weight divisions. Cotto is presently ranked as the world's third best light middleweight by The Ring Magazine, and fourth by BoxRec. In 2007 and 2009 he reached his highest pound for pound ranking of seventh by The Ring.
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The Philippines dumped Indonesia, 94-55, to win the men's basketball gold medal in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games. It's the 12th straight SEA Games gold medal in the event and 18th overall. Mike Tolomia came off the bench to topscore the Gilas cadets with 20 points, with 15 three-pointers, while Kobe Paras contributed 14 points on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting.
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Kiefer Ravena won a record-setting fourth SEA Games gold medal. Ray Parks and Kevin Ferrer won their third gold medals, tying Rommel Adducul for second most number of SEAG basketball titles. The Philippines' mission - we may lose in other games but not in basketball - was definitely accomplished.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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