July 11, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor meet face to face following the world tour press conference to promote the upcoming Mayweather vs McGregor boxing fight at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports ORG XMIT: USATSI-361805 ORIG FILE ID: 20170711_gav_sv5_009.jpg As expected, the McGregor/Mayweather press conference was an absolute spectacle.
The first step towards one of the biggest Pay Per Views in boxing history and quite honestly one of the biggest spectacles in Combat sports in a long time if not ever. For anyone who turned on UFC Fight Pass to watch this early they got treated to a nice 3 man discussion of the fight between Mauro Ranallo, former world champion boxer Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi (36-8), and former UFC Fighter Brendan “Big Brown” Schaub (10-5).
When the press conference actually got under way on Fight Pass “The Notorious” Conor McGregor (21-3 UFC Lightweight Champion) was on the stage first while his usual walk out music played in the background and he posed and danced for the crowd. Floyd “Money” Mayweather (49-0) made his way out next and came through the crowd and the two stared each other down on stage with McGregor talking all types of trash. He even went as far as bobbing and weaving in front of a stoic Mayweather whose facial expression never changed. McGregor just continued to talk trash and motion to the crowd who cheered every time he really did anything.
Finally, we all got seated and it was time for the actual press conference to begin. The Executive Vice President of Showtime Sports Stephen Espinoza was up first and he thanked Mayweather Promotions and said that he was happy to be working with the UFC. He covered the broadcasting situation behind the lead-up, the All Access series, and the actual pay per view itself on several different platforms. He started to praise Floyd Mayweather and began to get booed for it. Next up was Richard Sturm the president of MGM Entertainment. He was also greeted with resounding boos as well. He spoke about Las Vegas and how The T-Mobile Arena will be the home for all the action. Then UFC President Dana White was introduced and he introduced Conor McGregor and sat down.
McGregor took the mic and started talking about how somebody’s 0 had to go. He started bagging on Mayweather’s clothing choice and how he is out of money. McGregor talked about Mayweather being the smaller guy and even going as far as to say he would knock Floyd out within 4 rounds. He talked about his movement and power being the biggest difference. McGregor talked about the limited boxing ruleset and how if it was really a fight it wouldn’t take one round. He then complimented his own suit and pointed out the “Fuck You” pinstripes he had on. He talked about the restrictions on equipment not phasing him and how excited he was to be here. McGregor talked about his son and how he is doing this for him to set him up for life. McGregor talked about crossing over to Boxing and how Boxers have crossed over to MMA before and Floyd was too scared to do that as he wrapped up.
The CEO of Mayweather Promotions Leonard Ellerbe introduced Floyd Mayweather under a chorus of boos. Floyd came out chanting about hard work and then mentioned how 21 was the number and it represented the years he has been kicking ass. He mentioned not being worried about a ring or an Octagon and McGregor chimed in calling him out. Mayweather said that on August 26th he would knock McGregor out as well. Mayweather then danced around and grabbed a backpack with a $100 million dollar check in it causing Conor to mention that it’s for the tax man. Floyd said Conor looked good for a 7 figure fighter, but he looks good for a 9 figure fighter. He then thanked pretty much everyone from Showtime, MGM, the UFC, and Conor himself. He also said that name anyone and he has beat them and his 18-year run as a world champion. They actually shut Conor’s mic off as he was consistently responding into a mic that was off. Mayweather said McGregor could get it right now, but he would wait until the payday. He ended with saying that God only made one thing perfect and that was his boxing record. They did one last stare down and this time Floyd was chirping back at Conor.
This was the first of 4 consecutive days of Press conferences and things are only going to heat up from here. When it comes to the trash talking this will only continue to escalate and for now, you have to give it to McGregor for the better of the barbs in their first meeting.
