This latest Exploit into the Unknown feature is about my experience attending the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor superfight.
I should tell you in advance, though, what I attended was actually the screening of the fight at the Dakota Dunes Casino south of Saskatoon. I didn鈥檛 actually attend the fight in Las Vegas at all.
Heck, who could afford these ludicrous ticket prices? I learned from some of the other fight fans at the casino that the prices for ringside seats were absolutely ridiculous. According to what was being posted on the Internet, these were selling for something like $80,000.
This wouldn鈥檛 surprise me; major boxing fights are infamous for being the types of events that only the 鈥渆lites鈥� can attend. And there were plenty of celebrities there; names like LeBron James and Jamie Foxx and Steve Harvey, among others.
Since I鈥檓 not the 鈥渆lite,鈥� I spent Saturday night at a casino screening. And even though it was just a TV screening on three big screens at the front, the place was 鈥淪tanding Room Only.鈥� They even had to cart more chairs into the showroom for people so enough of us could sit down.
These screenings were happening in venues all over North America, and at home on pay-per-view TV. There were venues in North Battleford screening the fight, such as the Blend and Boston Pizza, and Gold Eagle Casino. But I鈥檓 glad I went to Dakota Dunes, and not just because I watched the fight there. While waiting for the fights to start I played the slot machines and came away $50 richer.
So this really did turn out to be the 鈥淢oney Fight鈥� after all, and not just for Mayweather.
I am not entirely sure how I should approach this column, because there is really nothing spectacular about watching a fight on TV anywhere.
Maybe what this really is is a story of being a fan of the fights, and my experiences following the sport of boxing over the years. It really has been sort of a love-hate relationship in many ways.
I really became interested in boxing during the 1980s when you had so many of these personalities in the ring. There were names such as Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler and Thomas 鈥淗it Man鈥� Hearns, and at the heavyweight level you had names such as Larry Holmes and Michael Spinks, and 鈥淚ron鈥� Mike Tyson.
Some of the fights were memorable, such as the three-round 鈥渨ar鈥� between Hagler and Hearns that ended with Hearns on the canvas, and the fight in which Leonard came back from retirement to defeat Hagler. Most often, these fights were from Las Vegas, which is really what spurred on my own interest in that glittering desert community.
But over time, the negatives about boxing really became obvious, to me and to other fans. Such as: the corruption. And multiple fight federations and the multiple title belts. On top of that, some of these boxers were criminals.
Who could cheer for that?听听
I started losing interest as the personalities of the sport began to leave the scene or even go to jail (Mike Tyson). But there was one particular fight that finished me off. It was the night Tyson bit off Evander Holyfield鈥檚 ear during a heavyweight title fight.
鈥淭his is the all-time low point,鈥� I said. I couldn鈥檛 muster much enthusiasm for boxing after that, for years.
Meanwhile, you had this rise of the new sport of mixed martial arts, with its no-holds-barred combination of boxing, kicking, and wrestling inside these barbed-wire cages.
Ultimately, under the leadership of Dana White, the UFC gained momentum thanks to a combination of factors, including strong promotions, better organization, some improved regulations, and a multitude of identifiable personalities across its stable of fighters.
It included people like Georges St.-Pierre, whose dominance of the Octagon particularly captured the attention of fight fans throughout Canada.
Most recently, the fan interest focused on Conor McGregor, the dynamic Irishman whose personality dominated inside and outside the ring.
The bottom line is that a lot of 鈥渇ight鈥� fans decided their interest in fights was the UFC, not boxing.
What brought me back to boxing eventually 鈥� and it took a long time 鈥� was the emergence of some new personalities of the sport. The fights of Manny Pacquiao got my attention, and so did the dominance of Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the ring.
But it really frustrated the masses that a 鈥渟uper fight鈥� between these two wasn鈥檛 happening. People talked about a Mayweather-Pacquiao matchup for years.
When it finally happened, the hype went through the roof, and that was it. I had gone to Dakota Dunes to watch that contest, which Mayweather convincingly won in a 12-round unanimous decision.
I am sure I am not the only one who returned as a fan of boxing, after so many years, because of this fight.
Quite honestly, though, I didn鈥檛 think there would be another 鈥渟uper fight鈥� of this magnitude again for a long time. But it happened again for Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor.
Many fans saw it as the logical matchup between the two most dominant fighters in each of their sports. But there were detractors as well.
When the fight was finally confirmed there was no shortage of people who thought this would be a farce, and that Mayweather would destroy the inexperienced McGregor in the boxing ring.
I was one of the skeptics as well. The one thing I found strange right from the get-go was that there was so much hype and interest in the fight, and yet no title was on the line! Think of it. Mayweather had previously retired, and he had relinquished all his belts. Meanwhile, McGregor was a UFC champion but this would be his first pro boxing match, ever!听
They couldn鈥檛 promote this as a title fight of any kind, so they billed it as the 鈥淢oney Fight,鈥� in reference to Mayweather鈥檚 nickname 鈥渕oney.鈥� Cynical fans thought it was fitting, because they thought this fight was a big cash grab.
In the end, someone did come up with a 鈥渃hampionship belt鈥� to be awarded the winner. But people on social media immediately ridiculed it and compared it to title belts in the WWE. People put up photos of 鈥淢illion Dollar Man,鈥� Ted DiBiase, wearing a similar-looking belt. Coincidence?
Many fans were sure this 鈥淢oney Fight鈥� was something right out of Vince McMahon鈥檚 playbook. Contributing to this atmosphere was the fighters鈥� outrageous 鈥渨orld tour鈥� of cities, where Mayweather and McGregor hurled no end of offensive insults and trash-talk at one another.听
There were stories of drama behind the scenes with McGregor鈥檚 sparring partner quitting, and about how Mayweather was not taking the fight seriously. Supposedly, Mayweather was blowing off training sessions so he could be at the Vegas strip club he owned, every night, all week before the fight.听听听听听听
With all this nonsense going on, and with little on the line beyond Mayweather鈥檚 chance at an undefeated 50-0 record, why was this such a big deal? 听听
I finally realized it in the late going when I was reading all these MMA news outlets, all of which were covering this boxing match. These were people who covered mixed martial arts for a living, who normally wouldn鈥檛 be caught dead near a boxing ring, and yet here they were covering and hyping this boxing match.听听听听
At last, it made sense. This was 鈥淢MA versus boxing鈥�! This was the UFC versus 鈥淭he Money Team鈥� to settle the ultimate unanswered question: which sport had the best fighters?
This was boxing鈥檚 biggest star, Mayweather, versus MMA鈥檚 biggest star, McGregor. That鈥檚 what this was about. Bragging rights were on the line between the fans of one sport and one individual, versus fans of the other.
This was evident even at the Dakota Dunes, where quite a few people there wearing UFC apparel, people who were clearly there because they were cheering on 鈥渢he UFC.鈥�
This was like the AFL versus the NFL in the early Super Bowl years. Just like Joe Namath and the New York Jets, Conor McGregor was going to go in there at T-Mobile Arena to shock the world and score the biggest upset of all time: a victory for the UFC over boxing.
In fact, there were boxing people who were deathly afraid going into the fight about what would happen if McGregor did pull it off. This might finally finish boxing off for good.听
What we ultimately got on Saturday night in Las Vegas wasn鈥檛 an upset. Nor was it the 鈥渇arce鈥� or 鈥渃arnival鈥� that many expected or feared.听听听听
Instead, we got a boxing match, and a compelling one at that.
McGregor seemed very comfortable in the ring as he started the first few rounds firing a flurry of punches, with Mayweather going into a defensive shell.
The on-air commentators were surprised at how good McGregor had looked early on.
But as the fight wore on, Mayweather started to land blows. It became obvious he was doing to McGregor what he had done to many fighters before him 鈥� wearing his opponent down.
In the ninth and 10th rounds, it was obvious McGregor was exhausted and ready to be knocked out. After a final flurry of Mayweather punches in the tenth round, the referee stopped the fight.
Inside the casino showroom at Dakota Dunes, fight fans were cheering and clapping. This was as good a contest as they all could have hoped for. You might say the fans had gotten their 鈥渕oney鈥檚鈥� worth.
Whether you were a boxing fan or an MMA fan, it didn鈥檛 really matter. It was simply a great night to be a fight fan.
听
听听
