When the much-anticipated boxing bout between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor was officially announced to go down on Aug. 26, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada (details), many couldn’t help but to raise an eyebrow at the selected date.
That’s because Gennady Golovkin and Saul Alvarez are set to throw down just three weeks later on Sept. 16 inside the same T-Mobile Arena in “Sin City” in what is arguably the most-anticipated boxing event in the last few years.
Pundits have suggested the Aug. 26 date was simply a way to beat “GGG” and “Canelo” to the pay-per-view (PPV) punch — or payback for this — but according to Golovkin, he doesn’t view Mayweather vs. McGregor as a fight, but merely a “show.”
“It’s not a fight. My fight with Canelo is a fight,” said Golovkin on a recent appearance on The Luke Thomas Show on Sirius XM.
“This is a show, Conor with Floyd is just a show. It’s a business show, a funny show, it’s not for us. This is not for boxing, this is for the people and it’s all for business. My fight with Canelo is true respectable boxing, respect for the sport, a true fight,” he added.
Even Stephen Espinoza — executive vice president for Showtime Sports — didn’t hide the fact that people don’t tune in to see Floyd knock people out, they tune in to see the spectacle, which will now be magnified thanks to the persona of McGregor.
You have to appreciate that honesty.
Still, Gennady admits he has nothing but respect for “Notorious” as a fighter, but at the end of the day, no matter how much sparring he does, he is no boxer.
“I respect McGregor like a UFC fighter. He’s not a boxer. He’s a good fighter, but he is no boxer,” he concluded.
Both PPV events are expected to carry a price tag around the $100 range, so it will be interesting to see just how much impact the timing of the fights has on each event’s PPV buys when all is said and done.
As far as Dana White is concerned, Mayweather vs. McGregor will have no problem in that department and will even go on to shatter PPV records.
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