Mayweather extended his professional boxing
undefeated streak to 50 victories and 0 defeats (50–0), surpassing the 49–0 record of
Hall of FamerRocky Marciano, after defeating McGregor by
technical knockout (TKO) in the 10th round.[7] Mayweather's guaranteed disclosed paycheck was $100 million and McGregor's guaranteed disclosed paycheck was $30 million.[8][9] However, the purse for the two fighters was expected to be substantially higher for each, with Mayweather reportedly earning $280 million from the fight and McGregor earning $130 million.[10][11][12]
During his successful
UFC mixed martial arts career McGregor maintained an interest in boxing and entertained the idea of a "money fight" with Mayweather.[13] UFC president
Dana White dismissed the rumors of a fight with Mayweather on The Dan Patrick Show, stating that Mayweather would have to contact him since McGregor was under contract with the UFC.[14] White even went as far as stating, "Here's what I think the chances are [of the fight happening]: About the same of me being the backup quarterback for
Brady on Sunday," referring to
Super Bowl LI.[15] In January 2017, it was reported that the two parties had entered an "exploratory phase" in negotiating a potential match between Mayweather and McGregor. On The Herd with Colin Cowherd, White openly offered to pay Mayweather $25 million to hold the proposed bout during a UFC event. He also predicted that pay-per-view viewership of the hypothetical bout could possibly rival
Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.[16]
On March 7, 2017, Mayweather called upon McGregor to "sign the paper" and "make it happen", arguing that "if Conor McGregor really wants this fight to happen, stop blowing smoke up everybody's ass."[17] On March 10, 2017, Mayweather stated that only a fight with McGregor would make him come out of retirement.[18] On March 16, 2017, Dana White backpedaled on his stance against a Mayweather–McGregor bout and said that he would not deprive McGregor of a massive payday.[19][20] On May 18, 2017, McGregor reportedly agreed to all of Mayweather's updated terms and signed the contract.[21] The official confirmation of the fight was made on June 14.[22] An international press tour was held from July 11–14.[23]
In July 2017,
IBF junior lightweight champion
Gervonta Davis was reported to be going to participate in a co-main event.[24] Earlier in 2017 McGregor called Mayweather a Malteser with eyeballs.[25] On July 19, additional
undercard details were released.[26] By that time, three names had been confirmed on the undercard, including British amateur boxer
Savannah Marshall, who signed up earlier in the year with
Mayweather Promotions, and
Badou Jack, who stepped up to fight at light heavyweight.[27] On July 26, 2017, it was announced that former welterweight titleholder
Shawn Porter would be headlining the preliminary card, facing
Thomas Dulorme.[28][29] On August 17, Porter pulled out of the fight due to personal reasons, including a death in the family. He was replaced by Cuban boxer
Yordenis Ugás.[30] On July 29, it was reported that
Gervonta Davis would defend his IBF junior lightweight title against former WBO champion
Roman 'Rocky' Martinez.[31] Martínez was dropped due to not having enough time to make the 130 pound [59 kg] limit.[32] Instead Davis has been rescheduled to fight unbeaten prospect
Francisco Fonseca.[33] On August 9, 2017, it was announced that
Nathan Cleverly would defend his WBA light heavyweight title against Money Team fighter
Badou Jack.[34]
A mural was painted in McGregor's Dublin training facility, Straight Blast Gym, depicting McGregor hitting Mayweather with a left-handed punch.[35]
In the United States, the fight was televised via
Showtimepay-per-view, available through both traditional television providers and various digital services, including the Showtime PPV website and apps, and UFC.tv.
Fathom Events organized public screenings at venues such as movie theaters.[36][37][38] On July 10, 2017, it was announced that pricing for the PPV in the U.S. would mirror that of Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, being set at US$89.95 (with an additional $10 charge for
high definition).[39]
The fight was called by Showtime's lead commentary team of
Mauro Ranallo (play-by-play),
Al Bernstein (color), and
Paulie Malignaggi (color), along with ringside reporter
Jim Gray.[40] Showtime produced a four-part documentary series, All Access: Mayweather vs. McGregor, focusing on the preparations for the fight.[41]Fox Sports (the
television rightsholder of the UFC) provided shoulder programming for the fight, including coverage of the press tour on UFC Tonight, as well as a pre-show and preliminary card on
Fox and
Fox Deportes.[39]
Due to the high demand, a large number of television providers, as well as UFC.tv, experienced technical issues with their carriage of the PPV, including errors, buffering and low video quality. The main event was delayed by an hour from its projected start time in order to address these problems. Following the fight, a class-action lawsuit was proposed in Oregon against Showtime Networks for unlawful trading practices and
unjust enrichment, alleging that the network knowingly advertised a level of quality it was unable to deliver with the amount of
bandwidth it allocated for the PPV stream.[42][43] Showtime and the UFC stated that they were investigating their respective customer complaints, and would issue refunds on a case-by-case basis.[44]
Sky Sports Box Office held broadcasting rights to the fight in McGregor's native Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Although it was initially believed that the price would match that of the U.S. PPV, the price was set at €24.95 (£19.95).[45] The fight was called for
Sky Sports by lead commentator, Adam Smith alongside
Carl Froch and British MMA fighter and UFC analyst,
Dan Hardy.[46] British radio rights were held by the
BBC, with
Mike Costello and
Steve Bunce on commentary for
BBC Radio 5 Live.[47]
As with
Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, it was expected that many viewers would seek unauthorized streams of the fight due to the high cost of the PPV. Showtime successfully received a
preliminary injunction against the registrant of a group of 44 websites who planned to illegally stream the fight in violation of its
copyrights, and all parties in active concert or participation with them.[50][51]
It was estimated that nearly 2.93 million viewers illegally streamed the fight, on video streaming websites and social media channels such as
Facebook,
YouTube and
Periscope.[52][53]
Purses
Mayweather was expected to earn at least $100 million, increasing up to four times that amount upon the event achieving all its metrics.[54] McGregor was expected to earn $75 million, but both men signed
non-disclosure agreements barring them from publicly communicating the financial details.[55] According to the
Nevada State Athletic Commission, Mayweather would earn a guaranteed purse of $100 million and McGregor was guaranteed $30 million.[56]
In a Q&A session in Glasgow in September 2017, McGregor revealed, had he been
disqualified, he would have been fined $10 million. The referee also warned him, had he lifted a leg, he would have not been warned and got a straight point deduction.[57]
After the fight Conor McGregor revealed that he earned around $100 million in total.[58][59]
On August 16, 2017, the officials were named for the fight:[62]
Referee: Robert Byrd
Judges: Burt Clements, Dave Moretti, and Guido Cavalleri
Both athletes initially agreed to box in 10-ounce (285 g)
gloves per
Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) rules which require 10-ounce (285 g) gloves for boxing matches contracted over 147 pounds [67 kg] (the fight is contracted at 154 pounds [70 kg]).[63] McGregor, accustomed to wearing 4-ounce (113 g) gloves in his UFC fights,[64] wanted 8-ounce (225 g) gloves for the fight. Mayweather agreed, and both athletes submitted formal requests to box in 8-ounce (225 g) gloves, which was granted by the NSAC.[63]
Betting
Experts expected that more money would be
bet on the fight than any other boxing match in history; estimates ranged up to $85 million in bets.[65][66] There were six separate $1 million bets on Mayweather in Las Vegas bookmakers, but a large majority of bets overall were on the underdog, McGregor.[66]
Live gate and revenue
Nevada State Athletic Commission announced the live gate for the event was $55,414,865.79 from 13,094 tickets sold and 137 complimentary tickets given out. This was far less than the
Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight which grossed $72,198,500 from a paid attendance of 16,219 in 2015, despite claims from Ellerbe and Mayweather that it did more than $80 million.[67]
Showtime Sports’ Stephen Espinoza told the
LA Times the fight was expected to generate around 4.4 million domestic buys, which would fall just short of the 4.6 million record which was set by
Mayweather-Pacquiao.[68] On December 14, 2017, Showtime officially announced 4.3 million domestic buys, making it the 2nd highest buy rate in pay-per-view history.[69]
Sky Sports initially estimated the fight garnered over a million PPV buys in the UK and grossed in excess of £20 million, which would've surpassed the record set in April 2017 when
Anthony Joshua defeated Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90,000 at the
Wembley Stadium. This would've also meant the fight generated more buys in the UK than
Mayweather-Pacquiao which took place in 2015.[70] Figures later revealed by the
Broadcasters' Audience Research Board showed the Mayweather–McGregor fight drew 874,000 PPV buys in the UK.[71]
Fight summary
At the weigh-in, Mayweather tipped the scales at 149.5 lbs, with McGregor at 153 lbs.[72] On the night of the fight, McGregor weighed nearly 20 lbs heavier than Mayweather.[73][74] Mayweather and McGregor entered the ring following the
Irish and
American national anthems; the Irish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist
Imelda May performed on behalf of
Conor McGregor,[75] followed by the American singer-songwriter and actor
Demi Lovato, who was personally chosen by Mayweather.[76]
Mayweather was expected to dominate the fight early but McGregor started strong and was ahead on one judge's card for the first few rounds, due in part to Mayweather using the
rope-a-dope technique in the early stages. Because of this, the fight looked closer than it actually was due to McGregor dominating the first 3 rounds and Mayweather turning his back to him most of the time. Mayweather eventually abandoned his usual stick-and-move style in order to knock McGregor out.[77] As the fight progressed, McGregor began to fatigue heavily. In Round 9, Mayweather landed a series of punches to McGregor's face, and the onslaught continued into Round 10, when referee Robert Byrd eventually
called the fight in favor of Mayweather after McGregor failed to defend himself.[78]
After the match Mayweather stated that he had expected McGregor to be a fast starter and had allowed him to deliver his heavy blows early.[79][80] McGregor on the other hand was disappointed by what he saw as an early stoppage, but respected the referee's decision. Former boxers such as
George Foreman and
Evander Holyfield expressed their impression regarding McGregor's boxing skills and the competitiveness of the fight,[81][82] with Foreman claiming that experts who criticized the fight "should apologize. It was competitive".[83]Mike Tyson gave McGregor an "A grade" for his performance, stating he was impressed.[84] The fight was lauded for its entertaining and exciting nature, especially when compared to Mayweather's most recent bouts.[85]
Mayweather announced in his post-fight interview that he had fought his final boxing match and would officially retire from the sport. Mayweather stated "Any guy that's calling me out? Forget it," putting an end to his boxing career.[86] McGregor said in his post-fight interview that he would be willing to box again and that he would return to mixed martial arts and the UFC.[citation needed]
Undercard fights
Gervonta Davis failed to make weight at the August 25 weigh in, forcing the IBF to strip him of his title. The title was declared vacant, but would still be on the line for
Francisco Fonseca if he secured victory.[87] Davis would go on to win by KO in the eighth round.
Nathan Cleverly lost his WBA light heavyweight title to
Badou Jack in a one-sided bout which ended when the referee stopped the fight in the fifth.[88] Cleverly retired from boxing after the fight.[89]