It is a sad and lonely truth that the great sport of boxing is slowly dying. While there is no lack of talent in each weight class, boxing has slowly fallen by the wayside as the UFC continues its rise to the top of the fighting world. And despite perhaps the gut reaction to the official announcement of the superfight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor being one of begrudging excitement or frenetic apprehension, it could be boxing’s last real hope at returning to limelight.
With respect to the modern titans of the boxing which include the immensely talented Canelo Alvarez and powerhouse Gennady Golovkin (who face each other on Sept. 16), the sport needs another showman whose personality and charisma outside the ring transcend into mainstream culture. Boxing needs its next great American prizefighter. It needs another Ali or Tyson who could captivate an audience both with their in-ring skills and antics outside of it. While WBC Heavyweight Champion Deontay Wilder is on his way to being the next big star, his dominance of his opponents, showmanship before matches and charm outside the ring is yet to be accepted by the mainstream. The last true remnant of when boxing ruled the Pay-Per-View world and more importantly, entranced the world, is Floyd “Money” Mayweather. Despite his retirement, he remains the face of modern boxing to many. This becomes especially true when looking at his PPV numbers. In terms of both buys and revenue, Mayweather owns the top three matches in boxing history. Now when combined with the fact that Conor McGregor, the modern face of the UFC, has accomplished the same PPV feat as Mayweather in his respective sport, this fight is bound to make ungodly amounts of money. But we already knew that. What is less apparent is that it has the potential to re-energize a new generation of boxing fans to get excited about the sport. With matches bound to be more technical, emotional and exciting around the corner (see Alvarez vs. GGG and Joshua vs. Klitschko II), Mayweather vs. McGregor could be the stepping stone that saves boxing. It could revitalize a sport to the once raucous heights it reached in times since passed and could allow for the aforementioned names to become superstars with the masses in ways not seen yet in their illustrious careers. It could be all of this, or none of it. It could simply be the swan song of boxing as it passes the torch to the younger, faster and personality driven UFC. It boils down to whether or not these icons of their respective sports can make this fight exciting
If this fight turns out to be as disappointing as the supposed “Fight of the Century”, it will have no real harm on McGregor or the UFC, but could be devastating to boxing. McGregor will return to his rabid fan base and the octagon, and Mayweather will retreat into his cavern of gold bars and stacks of dollar bills, but boxing may never recover. This fight is the last chance for the casual sports fan to get excited about it, and if it falls flat, why would they buy another pay-per-view with lesser known names than this? As for the rest of us, we just have to hope this is a fight and not two retirees looking to make one last paycheck.
Numbers on the Boards 