WASHINGTON 鈥� I often say that the answer to 90 percent of 鈥渨hy is this happening?鈥� questions in the sports world (and, likely, the world at large) is money. That鈥檚 especially true in boxing, and never more so than in the case of the impending Connor McGregor-Floyd Mayweather Jr. debacle coming to Las Vegas next week. The only way to make charades like this go away is to stop funding them.
First, let鈥檚 understand what this 鈥渇ight鈥� is. Whatever you think of Mayweather鈥檚 tedious style and history of dodging top opponents, he is arguably the most successful boxer of his generation. McGregor isn鈥檛 a boxer at all, but an MMA fighter who has risen to prominence through a combination of skill, showmanship and self-promotion. He has never boxed professionally.
This setup is less a boxing match than a carnival. It鈥檚 closer to or than a real fight. It鈥檚 all spectacle, one fueled beyond the ring by not just the personas of those involved, but the larger racial dynamics of an Irishman and an African-American man squaring off.
That McGregor in the first press conference wasn鈥檛 accidental. That he defended himself while continuing to wasn鈥檛 accidental. That the entire, unnecessary, four-day affair was during the MLB All-Star break 鈥� the deadest of dead weeks on the sports calendar 鈥� was anything but unintentional.
Every bit of training video and sparring partner interview breathlessly broadcast by the complicit sports media only further serves to muddy the waters and make this look like something legitimate, instead of the farce it is. But as long as you keep paying to watch this charade, it will continue. As long as you keep writing and tweeting and talking about both it and them, it will continue.
(I am fully aware that, on some level, by writing about it, I am adding to the conversation 鈥� this has been and will be my only contribution.)
Every person with money invested in this pathetic grift needs to take it in the pants hard enough for enough people to decide to never do it again. So here鈥檚 what not to do:
1. Do not buy the fight
Whatever you do, don鈥檛 spend any money on this fight. Don鈥檛 pay the insane $99.95 pay-per-view price to watch it (in HD), don鈥檛 bet on it 鈥� nothing. Money is the only oxygen that keeps this alive. Suffocate it.
2. Do not watch the fight
Even if you don鈥檛 pay for it yourself, don鈥檛 participate in watching it. Don鈥檛 go to a friend鈥檚 house who bought the fight or to a bar. I can鈥檛 believe anyone actually would, but needless to say, don鈥檛 go to .
3. Do not talk about the fight
You know why people will watch the fight? Because they feel like the conversation around it is all-encompassing and overwhelming, and they鈥檒l have a legitimate fear of having missed out on one of the biggest cultural events of the year. If this was a real fight, that would be a perfectly understandable sentiment. It鈥檚 not.
4. Do not emotionally invest yourself in the outcome
In the search for heroes and villains, you鈥檒l find none of the former and a pair of the latter in this matchup. McGregor is a cesspool of hackneyed self-promotion run amok, a carnival barker who has long since sold his soul and anything else he could get his hands on for his next big paycheck. .
If you have the stomach for it, you can describing the domestic violence Mayweather inflicted upon his mother.
It鈥檚 understandable to want to find catharsis through McGregor getting his teeth busted out of his face or Mayweather getting knocked on his a** to ruin his padded run at perfection in embarrassing fashion. But you won鈥檛 really find that. All you鈥檒l find is an unfinished result that sets up another rematch, another chance for this pair of grifters to start their dance anew, to try to fleece you again for their own gain.
5. For God鈥檚 sake, don鈥檛 bet on the fight
This is where the money is really made, the money that keeps these carnivals going. Vegas thrives on the action created by spectacles like this. Without that action, the casinos make no money.
You might see the fight as an easy moneymaking opportunity, and in a fair and just world, it would be. No matter how marginally profitable a bet on Mayweather would be, it is as close to free money as you鈥檒l find in the sports betting world. But you shouldn鈥檛 bet money on Mayweather (and whatever you do, don鈥檛 put money on McGregor, you fool).
You shouldn鈥檛 bet on Mayweather for the obvious reasons, but also for the perhaps not-as-obvious reason that the only way he loses this fight is if it鈥檚 not on the up-and-up; if some catastrophe somehow 鈥渕agically鈥� befalls him; if McGregor continuously throws low blows and the fight is called; if these two conspire to do something, anything, to prompt any possible excuse for a rematch, to convince you to cough up more of your money.
If you honestly can鈥檛 see that happening, I鈥檝e got some oceanfront property right along the Las Vegas Strip to sell you.
