Conor McGregor won’t get a fight with Floyd Mayweather unless Mayweather believes the fight will make him very, very rich. Therein lies the impasseIf there is ever a fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor, it won’t be nearly as much fun as Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor talking about a fight.Who knows if the two biggest names in MMA and boxing will actually step into a ring? They talk and talk about money and talk and talk about a deal but they never sign a contract. This is how Mayweather works, stretching the conversation, turning up the rhetoric and adding zeros to the guaranteed purses for a fight that he might not even want. It took more than five...
The prospective fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor is rubbernecking at its worst, but history offers precedent for events like theseAt the height of UFC middleweight Anderson Silva’s great career in 2009, he began lobbying to box Roy Jones Jr. It was Silva’s dream, he said, and for a time, other than a one-on-one bout with his clone, boxing Jones became the Brazilian’s biggest goal. UFC president Dana White spoke openly about knowing Jones. Of being friendly with Jones. And, while not quite understanding why anyone would want to see it, of wanting to deliver the bout for both Jones and Silva.Of course, though Jones was willing, it didn’t happen. Silva has chalked up the missed opportunity to the...
A majority draw was an unsatisfactory end to a stirring contest which the British fighter would have won but for a late knockdownThere was nothing to separate James DeGale and Badou Jack after their world super-middleweight title unification fight at the Barclays Center in New York. It ended in a majority draw which meant the world’s two best 168lb fighters retained their belts. But while an immediate rematch to settle unfinished business would seem the obvious next step, what is next for either man appears uncertain.DeGale, who holds the IBF’s version of the title, scored a knockdown in the first round on Saturday and boxed masterfully early on, using balletic footwork to create angles that made Jack look flat-footed and...