Why the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight is so gross
Even if you're only dimly aware of professional fighting culture, you probably know that theatrics are everything. There's no shortage of stalking, posturing, and trash-talking all in the name of putting on a good show.
But that bravado has looked uglier than usual in the hype surrounding the boxing match that pits Floyd Mayweather Jr. against Conor McGregor.
The battle, airing live Saturday evening on Showtime, has been billed as an "unprecedented" event by the cable network because McGregor, a UFC champion who hails from Ireland, will fight his first-ever pro boxing match against the undefeated (49-0) Mayweather.
It was always bound to be a spectacle given their mismatched fighting skills, but the problematic press tour that preceded it has turned the match into unseemly social commentary. Both McGregor and Mayweather have crossed the line trying to get in each other's heads -- and it seems the adults in charge are arguably too interested in making a handsome profit.
Here are the most troubling aspects of Mayweather vs. McGregor:
McGregor used Mayweather's history of domestic violence to hype the fight.
McGregor seems to relish stepping right up to the boundary between class and crass and catapulting over it with profane insults — all while daring his opponent to try him.
That's basically what happened when, twice earlier this year, McGregor invoked the name of C.J. Watson, a former Golden State Warriors player. The reference stems back to reports that Mayweather assaulted his former girlfriend in 2010 upon suspecting that she'd been in close touch with Watson. Mayweather served two months in jail after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges.
In one January tweet, McGregor posted a cartoon of himself standing triumphant over what appears to be Mayweather's body. He captioned the image, "Call me C.J Watson!" In July, he was spotted wearing a Watson jersey.
After the photograph became public and McGregor made comments on social media about it, Josie Harris, Mayweather's ex-girlfriend, issued a blistering statement to TMZ through her attorney:
"[The stunt] demonstrates not only an insensitivity toward the emotional wellbeing and privacy of the victim of Mayweather’s domestic violence, but also a general disregard for the physical and emotional trauma and long-lasting psychological impacts suffered by victims of domestic abuse."
And we haven't even yet gotten to the controversy surrounding the fact that Mayweather's past with domestic violence didn't end his career. Instead, a cable network like Showtime is helping to bring him out of retirement with this fight.
Mayweather and McGregor have used homophobic or racially-coded language to heckle each other.
If you were looking for a more civilized expression of athletic daring, you're not going to find it in Mayweather vs. McGregor.
In the press tour this summer, McGregor told Mayweather to "dance for me, boy." When Mayweather accused McGregor of racism, the UFC star refuted that charge by describing himself as being "half-black from the belly button down."
But Mayweather responded to McGregor with his own style of bigotry, calling the Irishman a homophobic epithet during the press tour appearance at Wembley Arena.
McGregor has a history of using race and ethnicity to insult his opponents. Prior to his 2015 match against Jose Aldo, who is from Brazil, McGregor said at a press conference, "If this was a different time, I would invade his favela on horseback and kill anyone that was not fit to work."
Given the money that fighters stand to make from a live broadcast, it's no surprise that McGregor and Mayweather would resort to saying ridiculous, offensive things to draw viewers. But at a time when America is battling to defend its moral conscience from neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and others who hold prejudiced views, this primetime event looks more and more like it's exploiting or inflaming those tensions for profit.
Experts think the fight is unsafe — and could even be deadly.
Speaking of cold, hard cash, more than 100 ringside physicians are deeply troubled that this fight was even sanctioned in the first place, given McGregor's inexperience and Mayweather's once-in-a-generation dominance in his sport.
Members of the Association of Ringside Physicians, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fighter safety, told the New York Times that McGregor would be dangerously outmatched by Mayweather.
"The thing I really fear, truly fear, is that somebody’s going to get really hurt in this upcoming fight."
"The thing I really fear, truly fear, is that somebody’s going to get really hurt in this upcoming fight," Larry Lovelace, president of the organization, told the Times.
The concern isn't unwarranted. In July, an MMA fighter who was new to boxing died after being knocked out during a match.
While the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the regulatory body that approved the Mayweather/ McGregor, defended its decision, the Times reported that it stands to make as much as $1.2 million from the fight. That's because the commission receives a cut of gross revenue from ticket sales.
“As a regulator, I take offense to the fact that we’re approving this fight for fiduciary reasons,” Bob Bennett, executive director of the commission, told the Times. “That’s totally unfair, and it’s simply not true.”
Whether or not it's true, the appearance of a conflict of interest is just one more factor that has turned Mayweather vs. McGregor into a stomach-churning drama.
UPDATE: Aug. 26, 2017, 7:11 a.m. PDT This story has been updated to clarify that McGregor will be fighting in his first-ever pro boxing match.
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Rebecca Ruiz is a Senior Reporter at Mashable. She frequently covers mental health, digital culture, and technology. Her areas of expertise include suicide prevention, screen use and mental health, parenting, youth well-being, and meditation and mindfulness. Rebecca's experience prior to Mashable includes working as a staff writer, reporter, and editor at NBC News Digital and as a staff writer at Forbes. Rebecca has a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and a masters degree from U.C. Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.
