Will Mayweather vs. McGregor in Las Vegas next Saturday be the week’s biggest interstellar event? Its promoters will have four days after Monday’s total eclipse of the sun to get the spotlight back on their Aug. 26 boxing match between unbeaten boxing champ Floyd Mayweather and pro cage fighter Conor McGregor.
Already making things more interesting going into “eclipse weekend,” the odds are tightening and some problematic lighter gloves have been approved for the fight.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission ruling on the size of the gloves added some dimension to the fight, that it is a sanctioned boxing match -- in addition to being a made-for-whatever-goes Vegas event -- and that McGregor was coming to the ring as a boxer, not a UFC mixed martial arts cage fighter.
As expected, Mayweather remains the favorite. But the odds have dropped as more fans put their money on the trash-talking McGregor, who claims he'll knock out "Money" Mayweather within four rounds.
Before the fight was even officially announced, Mayweather was a -2250 favorite while McGregor was at +950, CBS Sports noted. A little more than a week before what some are calling “the biggest fight in history,” Mayweather was just a -450 favorite while McGregor was a +325 underdog on Thursday, OddsShark.com said.
(If you don’t understand odds, it means everyone was still betting Mayweather will smear McGregor, but more people are starting to look for a long shot to come in, or are betting emotionally.)
The Bleacher Report suggested part of this could be due to McGregor's attention-making antics during the two fighters’ four-city promotional tour, including some dicey dialogue between them.
McGregor climbed back in the spotlight by bringing up lighter gloves.
McGregor is accustomed to fighting in 4-ounce gloves, but the Nevada State Athletic Commission typically requires boxers to fight in 10-ounce gloves when competing at 154 pounds or more, USA Today noted, with more padding to absorb more shock generated by higher bodyweights.
McGregor predicted he would "floor" Floyd in the first round if they were boxing with lighter gloves.
"If we are in 8-ounce gloves, he will be floored multiple times in the first round," McGregor said. "I believe first-round KO in 8-ounce gloves. The fact I can't follow through in MMA and pound the head into the canvas and there's a 10-count in boxing, maybe I'll give him second round. But 8-ounce gloves, he will be done in two."
Naturally, there was back-and-fourth between the two fighters, and Mayweather took to social media, saying he was open to fighting in 8-ounce gloves, delighting everyone but the boxing commission’s doctors who questioned the safety of lighter gloves.
In any case, the NSAC on Wednesday voted unanimously in favor of the fight taking place with 8-ounce gloves – a one-time exception to its rules, ESPN said.
“I’m very happy with how (the commission) handled it,” McGregor said. “They took both fighters requests into consideration and I’m very happy with it. You’ve got pros and cons on both sides and both athletes asking for it. I am coming up in weight on the gloves. Look at what I fight with (normally).”
Mayweather's willingness to fight in smaller gloves, to McGregor's advantage, likely comes as a surprise to many, considering something Mayweather told ESPN's Stephen A. Smith in a recent one-on-one interview.
"He's a lot younger. When you look at myself and Conor McGregor on paper, he's taller, has a longer reach, he's a bigger man from top to bottom," Mayweather said, per Bleacher Report. "He's a lot younger, so youth is on his side. And I've been off a couple of years. And I'm in my 40s. So, if you look at everything on paper, it leans toward Conor McGregor."
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