One of my favorite Seinfeld episodes (and there are many) is the one where Elaine becomes friends with George’s girlfriend, Susan. George has a theory that it is just not good if these two separate worlds collide intermingling his friendship world with his romantic world. Take a look:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koUGfRumE1k
I bring this up because I wanted to watch the episode again and because it made me think about the upcoming Pay-per-View event – Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor.
In case you do not know, Conor McGregor is a mixed martial artist and professional boxer with the MMA and the UFC. He is the biggest Pay-Per-View attraction in MMA history. His rematch after a loss against Nate Diaz became the highest selling pay-per-view in UFC history with 1,650,000 purchases.
Now, McGregor is moving into the boxing world of Floyd Mayweather. McGregor can box (it’s considered his greatest skill). As a UFC fighter, he would often insult the skills of Mayweather. Mayweather heard enough and announced he would come out of retirement for a boxing match with McGregor.
Floyd Mayweather is considered to be one of the greatest boxers of all time, undefeated and a winner of fifteen world titles. He is an accurate puncher with outstanding defensive skills both on display in his biggest win over Manny Pacquiao. His record going into the McGregor fight is 49-0.
On August 26, the two will meet. The match will be held under boxing rules. Ten-ounce gloves will be used. No kicks or takedowns will be allowed. Each round will be three minutes and it is scheduled for 12 rounds. All of these rules, one would think favors the professional boxer – Mayweather.
The expectation is that this will create the biggest LIVE gate in history surpassing Mayweather-Pacquiao which earned over $72 million. Ticket prices begin at $3500. The Pay-Per-View audience is also expected to break records with prices in the $90-$100 range. Mayweather-Pacquiao created 4.4 million buys.
The pre-match hype has featured bombastic challenges using the most profane language. Most experts feel that Mayweather’s boxing skills give him a great advantage, but McGregor certainly possesses tremendous knockout power.
Mayweather is a huge favorite to win, but rest assured, MMA fans will back their man, who promises to win by knockout in less than four rounds.
So, on August 26, the two worlds will be colliding. Is it good for boxing? Is it good for the MMA? And, as George says, “There’s going to be trouble” and could cause both to “cease to exist” as we know them.
You have a few weeks to decide how interested YOU are in the outcome.
ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)
-
- Monica, Ed, and Billy McCaffrey were all great athletes at Allentown Central Catholic. Ed’s son, Christian, was a great player at Stanford and a Heisman runner-up, and was selected eighth in the NFL draft by the Carolina Panthers. He is both a running back and a receiver. Early word out of the Panther camp is that no one can cover him one-on-one out of the backfield and linebackers can’t tackle him. If his career is anything like Ed’s with the Denver Broncos, I may become a Panther fan.
- An eating disorder, depression and thoughts of suicide are not descriptions often associated with a college placekicker, but Penn State’s #99 Joey Julius suffers from all of these psychological problems. So, he has checked himself into a treatment center in St. Louis and will not be part of the Penn State roster this season.
- The NFL has eased the rules on touchdown celebrations. Group celebrations will be allowed and the ball can be used as a prop, but no obscene gestures, throat slashing, gun or bow and arrow shooting. How creative will the players get?
- With high school and college football practices set to begin, I reflected back to the three-a-days we went through in the heat of August – morning, afternoon, and evening practices to get ready for the season. The NCAA now restricts formal practice to one, three-hour session, live contact only three days a week, and one day off. All in the interest of safety. Good idea!
- No blog next week. One more break before football!
