27 Aug 2017

Mayweather, McGregor primed and ready for battle

2:37 pm on 27 August 2017

The biggest sporting event of the year and likely the richest fight in combat sport history is a few hours away, the two most successful athletes in their respective sports have signed the contracts, completed their training camps, participated in the media storm and have now officially weighed in.

Join RNZ from 3pm for live blog coverage of the fight

Floyd Mayweather and Connor MacGregor will contest the 'Money Belt'.

Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor will contest the "Money Belt". Photo: Photosport

The undefeated boxer Floyd 'Money' Mayweather comes into the ring tomorrow with the record of 49 wins, 0 losses.

His opponent the Irish UFC superstar, Conor 'The Notorious' McGregor, has never competed in a boxing match but make no mistake this is not his first fight.

McGregor holds a record of 21 wins and 3 losses in Mixed-martial arts, a discipline of fighting where you can throw punches, kicks, elbows and knees, wrestle and grapple your opponent into submission.

Despite a wide array of weapons available in his sport, the Irishman loves reverting to what he does best.

Knocking people out, with his fists.

Since the start of his career he has been charismatic, talked a big game and backed it up, consequently he leap-frogged out of MMA sports news into the mainstream media with his swift and vicious 1 punch Knock out over former 145 pound champion, Jose Aldo.

Following his emphatic 13 second victory in December of 2015, McGregor went on to fight twice in the 170 pound division, beat the battle hardened Nate Diaz and defeat the 155 pound champion Eddie Alvarez.

So, within the span of 12 months McGregor fought in 3 weight divisions, out boxed one of the best boxers' in the UFC, knocked out 2 world champions and earned more than $35 million.

Conor McGregor with his two UFC belts.

Conor McGregor with his two UFC belts. Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The future was looking pretty good for McGregor, but then it was announced.

Floyd 'Money' Mayweather vs Conor 'The Notorious' McGregor.

Two different sports. Two flamboyant champions set on a collision course.

In what could very well be the single richest sporting event in human history.

It is projected Mayweather will take home more than $200 million in PPV, Tickets sales and Endorsements.

McGregor will most likely make north of $100 million which is more than triple his current net worth.

Today both fighters came together for the official weigh in for their 154 pound Junior Middleweight bout.

Floyd Mayweather

Floyd Mayweather Photo: Photosport

Floyd weighed in at a lean 149 ½ pounds while McGregor came in just under the upper limit at 153 pounds.

The men faced off one final time before the meet tomorrow night, Mayweather his usual calm self and McGregor posturing and imposing his size on the smaller boxer.

After the weigh in Conor alluded to Floyd looking out of shape.

"He looks like dog s**t," McGregor said.

"He looks blown out. Full of water. He's not going to keep my pace. Trust me on that. That's the worst shape I've ever seen him.

"I'm going to breeze through him. Trust me on that."

Confidence? Maybe False Bravado? We will find out tomorrow.

The build up to this fight had people questioning McGregor's chances of winning, on the count of him have no experience under Queensbury rules.

Most boxers and boxing media labelled this fight a "circus" and said it was an insult to the sport.

But fight fans are engaged, new fans are born, people who would normally have no interest in combat sports are talking about McGregor's ability to penetrate Floyd's defence or maybe Floyd takes advantage of Conor's wide fighting stance and punishes his mid-section.

Nonetheless, whether people think the fight is going to be competitive or an absurd mismatch, the world will stop, watch and be entertained.