Showtime: Mayweather wants MayGregor in early fall
“If we get this wrapped up pretty quickly we could be seeing it early fall. That’s the goal. That’s what we’ve heard from Floyd.”
Showtime Sports Executive Vice President and General Manager Stephen Espinoza spoke recently with Fight Hype about MayGregor. UFC president Dana White came to terms with Conor McGregor and is believed to now be in negotiation with Floyd Mayweather’s side.
Mayweather said he looked forward to signing but cautioned he is no rush, and put the odds of the bout happening at 90%. While Mayweather will posture, there is no fight even remotely as easy for even remotely as much much money, and he is looking to break Rocky Marciano’s cursed 49-0 record. So he will sign, but not quickly.
I think the date really is a function of how long it takes to get a deal done,” said Espinoza, as transcribed byJed Meshew for MMA Fighting. “Because the reality is, it took a long time for the UFC and Conor to reach an agreement to allow Conor to participate. Now the real negotiations start which is the Floyd side versus the Conor-UFC side. If that drags on then you’re probably looking at late this year. If it really drags on then you’re looking at early next year.
“But if people are as motivated as they seem to be – I know how badly Floyd wants it – if we get this wrapped up pretty quickly we could be seeing it early fall. That’s the goal. That’s what we’ve heard from Floyd. Now it’s just getting in a room and seeing if people will be reasonable on the kind of deal that they’re looking for.
September 16 had been hoped for for MayGregor, but it was taken by Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin. Since 2009 Mayweather has fought on PPV only on September 16 (Mexican Independence Day) and on May 5 (Cinco de Mayo) in order to best cater to the Mexican community worldwide, who remain a strong market for PPV boxing events.
I’m not sure it matters because we’re dealing with an event that’s massive,” said Espinoza. “The only comparison that people can really make is Mayweather-Pacquiao and you could have done that any day except Super Bowl Sunday and it would’ve been massive. So I don’t think the date will make a difference commercially. . .
The Mexican holiday has a been a date that Floyd really elevated but it’s not a date that Floyd needs to make [the fight] bigger. That fight will make the date not the date making the fight. There are some fights where putting them on those dates makes it bigger and adds to it; this one is gonna be huge no matter what date it’s on so really, it’s a function of what works for Floyd in the business negotiation and his preparation.
Mayweather is the biggest PPV draw in boxing history. McGregor is the biggest PPV draw in MMA history. There is speculation that buys for MayGregor could be 5,000,000. That would break the PPV record of 4.6 million buys and $410 million in revenue set by Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao.
It’s tough to say that because even before Mayweather-Pacquiao my prediction was 3-3.5 million buys,” said Espinoza. “I said after the fight that I wasn’t sure that we’d ever see some event in my lifetime to surpass it. Just because it was so big, I hesitate but at the same time, I have trouble thinking of a significant group of people who bought Mayweather-Pacquiao who would then say, ‘No, I’m not gonna buy Mayweather-McGregor,’ and since you are drawing from two distinct fan bases, it might give that record a run for the money.