largely been forgotten – and for good reason. Mayweather vs McGregor PPV Online It is hard to imagine a modern boxer at the peak of his powers agreeing to such a fight. But Ali, fresh from a world-title defence against Britain’s Richard Dunn, travelled to Tokyo for what was promoted as ‘the martial arts championship of the world’.The idea was to sell the scrap as a battle to be crowned the toughest man on the planet.
Event: Mayweather vs McGregor
Date: 26 August
Place: T Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Broadcasting: mayweathervsmcgregorppvonline.com
But the fight isn’t fully done yet, either, and it’s up to the WBA as of now:
“We agreed terms for Nathan Cleverly to defend his world title against Badou Jack on the Mayweather undercard. The only issue we have to overcome is we’re just boxing off with [Dmitry] Bivol, who is the mandatory in the WBA, to make sure the belt can be on the line. The deal is done and now we have to make sure that the fight can take place for the WBA world title.”
The fight would be a solid addition to the show, with Jack (21-1-2, 12 KO) a former super middleweight titleholder moving up in weight, and Cleverly (30-3, 16 KO) a two-time titleholder at 175, though he is just 4-3 in his last seven fights, and has been exposed against the upper tier of the division in the past, including losses to Sergey Kovalev and Andrzej Fonfara (his third loss came at cruiserweight to Tony Bellew, whom he’d beaten at 175).
Right now, the Mayweather-McGregor card is shaping up to be a big one, which is obvious just from the main event and the interest in that, but the undercard isn’t certainly better than some we’ve seen, even for cards where the main event was far less likely to sell well. Gervonta Davis will defend his 130-pound title against Rocky Martinez on the pay-per-view, and a FOX-broadcast prelim show will see Shawn Porter take on Thomas Dulorme.
If this fight does happen, who do you see winning?We’re currently in the calm before the storm; between the now infamous world press conference tour that featured fur coats and plenty of insults, and before the real build up to the biggest fight of all time.
Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather, who will go head to head in Las Vegas on August 26, are currently in training camp before the big date.
A few pictures on social media aside, as well as a handful of acerbic comments from Paulie Malignaggi, the high-profile duo are busy honing their skills before battle commences.
That gives us the chance to take a stroll down memory lane to the original cross-sport promotion, one that gave rise to MMA and can take some credit for its success today… even if the event itself was something of a farce.
The surreal encounter between Muhammad Ali and wrestler Antonio Inoki at Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan arena on June 26, 1976 has has largely been forgotten – and for good reason.
It is hard to imagine a modern boxer at the peak of his powers agreeing to such a fight. But Ali, fresh from a world-title defence against Britain’s Richard Dunn, travelled to Tokyo for what was promoted as ‘the martial arts championship of the world’.
The idea was to sell the scrap as a battle to be crowned the toughest man on the planet.
Ali was to receive $6million (though how much he was actually paid has since been disputed) for the bout which was a precursor to modern mixed martial arts. Mayweather vs McGregor Live Stream
Inoki was a popular Japanese wrestler who plied his trade in the Japan Wrestling Association and then in Tokyo Pro Wrestling in the 1960’s and 1970’s. He was even inducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Hall of Fame.
But perhaps the overriding feeling around his scrap with Ali was in fact infamy.
The build-up to the fight was in keeping with its unusual nature. Inoki refused interviews and did not allow any media to watch him train.
When he appeared alongside Ali at a press conference to promote the fight he seemed shy as his opponent took centre stage, mocking the size of his chin and performing unflattering impersonations of heavyweight rivals Joe Frazier and George Foreman.
Away from the cameras, Ali hung out with a huge entourage, including eccentric characters such as Piranha Fred (aka wrestler Fred Blassie) and a dozen female admirers.
This being a form of wrestling, the rules and the outcome had been set in advance.
A script had been devised that would create an entertaining spectacle and ensure no injuries to either man, especially as Ali had a fight with Ken Norton on the horizon.
‘The scenario was set,’ promoter Bob Arum told boxing writer Thomas Hauser. ‘Ali would pound on Inoki for six or seven rounds. Inoki would be pouring blood. Apparently he was crazy enough that he was actually going to cut himself with a razor blade. Ali would appeal to the referee to stop the fight, and right when he was in the middle of this humanitarian gesture, Inoki would jump him from behind and pin him. Pearl Harbor all over again.’
It didn’t work out like that. Ali suspected that he was being duped and would be in a real fight, prompting days of negotiations between the two camps to figure out each other’s true intent.
That led to what can only be described as a farcical outcome. It was decided that Inoki would be prohibited from throwing, grappling, tackling or kicking above the knee. And any kicks would have to be executed with one knee on the canvas.
The rules of the match barred Ali from hitting Inoki on the canvas, so that is where he spent most of the time after making flying leaps at Ali hoping to bring him down so that his wrestling skill would be to his advantage.
That meant he spent much of the fight firing kicks at Ali’s legs, while the heavyweight champions danced around the ring to avoid them.
There were ripples of excitement; Inoki was able to ground his opponent in the fifth round with a kick, while Ali demonstrated some of his old fancy footwork and showmanship to the delight of the watching crowd.
But largely it was 15 rounds of not much action, prompting Arum to admit later: ‘Any moron knew it wasn’t fixed, because a fixed fight wouldn’t have been that awful.’
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Sportsmail’s Ian Woolridge wrote from Tokyo: The Japanese, who between wars are a restrained and courteous race, could take no more. They flung what was left of their sandwiches out from the hired balconies of the octagonal Budokan Martial Arts Hall and left. In London there would have been a riot and in Paris they would have been forced to summon the water cannon.’
An embarrassed Ali told the Press: ‘I wouldn’t have done this if I’d known he was gonna fight like that.’Although the pair later became great friends, the cost of the battle to the boxer was great. He had ruptured blood vessels and, even worse, blood clots in his legs. He would box on until his retirement in 1981, but didn’t knock a single opponent between his fight with Inoki and then.
Fortunately, there is unlikely to be a similar farce when Mayweather and McGregor meet in Las Vegas. The rules have been agreed – it is strictly a boxing match – and both camps are ready to fight in front of millions.
Given the size of the fight, if it were to descend into a similar farce, then – to mis-quote the great Ian Woolridge above, there will be more than flung sandwiches from the balcony, and there certainly will be riots in London and Paris.In a rather surprising move, the Nevada State Athletic Commission is set to hear and consider arguments as to why Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor should be able to wear 8oz gloves for their 154lb fight at their next scheduled meeting. Commission rules state that boxing matches at contested at 154lbs and above require 10oz gloves. But, you know, ‘money talks’ as they say.
NSAC executive director Bob Bennett had this to say on the hearing when talking to Sky Sports:
“Our regulations require 10oz gloves. But I won’t say that there’s no negotiations.
“The promoters have a legal opportunity to submit a waiver, then appear before our commission to articulate why they think we should make an exception to our regulations.”
It’s hard to say if there’s any precedent for this, but as far as Bennett is concerned the commission has never received such a request before. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t going to at least entertain the idea.
The commission will hear arguments from McGregor vs Mayweather team, who are both in favor of wearing smaller gloves, and then discuss and vote on the matter.