As the drumbeat for a Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight grew progressively louder over the past two years — culminating in Wednesday’s announcement that the boxing match between the pugilist and the mixed martial artist would take place Aug. 26 in Las Vegas — one constant remained: The bout would be interesting in theory but a bloodbath on paper, with Mayweather wiping the floor with McGregor. And indeed, the early odds reflect that.
(For the gambling uninitiated, -700 means one would have to wager $700 to win $100 on a Mayweather victory. It implies that the boxing champion has nearly a 90 percent chance of winning.)
But why? McGregor is seen as one of UFC’s best punchers. Shouldn’t that translate from the octagon into the boxing ring? Here’s why it might not.
He’s never seriously trained as a boxer before this year.
There really isn’t much more to say about this. Boxing has been Mayweather’s occupation for his entire adult life and for many years before that. McGregor, though heralded for his striking skills in MMA and an amateur boxer as a youth, only began training solely for this bout earlier this year. This is probably a bit of an oversimplification, because it’s not like McGregor has never thrown a punch before, but it’ll be like stepping to the plate against Clayton Kershaw after a few trips to the batting cages.
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