Getty Image
It was a dream matchup. The kind of fight that only could happen in a video game and never in real life. Could a UFC champion, Conor McGregor, hold his own against Floyd Mayweather, one of the greatest boxers ever? Turns out that he could. We think.
There’s just one thing that has made people wonder about the authenticity of the fight. The fact that Floyd Mayweather claimed to have bet somewhere between 87 and 100 grand on himself to finish McGregor in under 9-1/2 rounds.
“I think that we bet 100 on 9-1/2,” Mayweather told ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio after the fight. “I gave my guy six figures to go bet. I have to make sure he bet because earlier today I went to the sports book to bet and they wouldn’t let me bet.”
Mayweather later told SportsCenter he gave a friend $400,000 to bet, but that the friend was only allowed to place a bet for $87,000.
So here’s the prevailing conspiracy theory as I understand it. Floyd Mayweather, one of the most skilled boxers in the history of the sport, basically put forth the minimal amount of effort he needed to give to make the fight with Conor McGregor, a man with a grand total of ZERO professional boxing fights, both look like a legitimate match-up as well as make it last long enough for people to feel like they got their money’s worth.
Then, we he decided that enough was enough and Conor was getting tired, thus making it harder for Floyd to prop McGregor up, he decided to end it and go ahead and collect not only his winnings for the fight, but also at the betting window.
Which, when you think about it and take into consideration the massive difference in the boxing skill levels and experience of the two fighters, this scenario is not even remotely out of the realm of possibility. The fight was, possibly, just reality TV at its finest.
As Mayweather said, “His punching power is solid but I’ve felt it before so I kept coming forward. It wasn’t the kind of power that stopped me coming forward.”
McGregor also commented after the fight, “He’s not that fast, he’s not that powerful, but boy was he composed in there.”
Of course he was, he was a 49-0 multi-time boxing champion taking on a guy in his first professional boxing match. Why wouldn’t he be composed as hell?
Even Oscar De La Hoya said that the only reason McGregor won some early rounds was because Mayweather let him.
Here’s a little taste of even more of the conspiracy chatter…
Cast your vote and let us know!