Mayweather ‘officially’ out of retirement to fight McGregor
Floyd Mayweather: “Today, I’m officially out of retirement for Conor McGregor. We don’t need to …”
The greatest boxer of his generation, Floyd Mayweather Jr, has officially come out of retirement in order to box UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. Notorious has not boxed since he was a teen, and then only as an amateur, but a prizefight between the pair has the potential to be the biggest PPV draw in history.
Today, I’m officially out of retirement for Conor McGregor, said Mayweather,” as recorded by recorded by FightHype.com and transcribed by Tom Ngo for 5thRound. We don’t need to waste no time. We need to make this s*** happen quickly. Let’s get it on in June.
When I faced Arturo Gatti, I went to his turf. He was the A side, I was the B side. I beat him. I didn’t cry. I didn’t complain. When I faced Oscar De La Hoya, he was the A side, I was the B side. I didn’t cry. I didn’t complain. I beat him and I became the A side. For Conor McGregor, I’m coming out of retirement, just to fight Conor McGregor.
I don’t want to hear no more excuses about the money, about the UFC. Sign the paper with the UFC so you can fight me in June. Simple and plain. Let’s fight in June. You’re the B side, I’m the A side. We’re not here to cry about money. I’m tired of all this crying about money and talking about you want to fight. You blowing smoke up everybody’s ass. If you want to fight, sign the paperwork, let’s do it.
The fight will be historically lucrative, but there are two impediments. Conor McGregor wants parity. Mayweather has eight fights that broke 1,000,000 buys to McGregor’s four. However, McGregor, 28, has a number of options he knows he can win that will break 1,000,000 buys and Mayweather has none.
Mayweather, 40 and 49-0, wants to beat Rocky Marciano’s cursed 49-0 record. On the entire planet, there is exactly one person who Mayweather is certain he can beat, curse and all, who will be a major PPV draw, and that is McGregor.
The other problem is McGregor’s UFC contract, which prohibits prizefighting explicitly. UFC president Dana White has a business to run, and an ironclad contract signed in Nevada. So the fight with McGregor has to go through a negotiation with concessions to White, something the proud Mayweather has shown little willingness to do.
Mayweather will have to decide if he wants less than $100,000,000 and the breaking of an unbreakable record, or if he wants nothing and no record broken. He is not stupid and time has not reversed. He will make some concessions and the fight will happen.