Last night, the long awaited news that Conor McGregor will face Floyd Mayweather was finally delivered by the two fighters.
Michael O’Keefe who is the CEO of Teneo PSG spoke on the Pat Kenny show on Thursday morning and he feels the fight isn't really aimed at sporting purists.
“This is showbiz and not one for the purists at all,” he said. “If you’re one of these pure sporting fans like myself it’s one of those ones that’s hard to swallow in some respects. However, you did feel that this was always going to happen. These are two of the biggest names in sport and when they originally got together at the start, you felt this fight was possible.”
Floyd Mayweather had been one of the most dominant forces in boxing for a long period of time. On the other hand Conor McGregor has been a superstar in the world of MMA. The terms of the fight have been laid out. Both men fighting at 154 pounds, wearing 10 ounce gloves, 12 rounds at three minutes each and the contest will take place in a boxing ring. The rules of the fight would suggest things are heavily in the favour of Mayweather who holds a professional boxing record of 49 wins and zero losses. Although McGregor's boxing is his best attribute inside an octagon, it is only one part of UFC. The Irishman is coming up against one of the best boxing defenders of all time and although he will be 11 years younger than Mayweather when they step into the ring, the majority of boxing fans think it will be an easy evening for the American.
Having said that, a lot of people feel that even if McGregor were to lose the fight, the money he will make and the position he has put himself in, really shows how good a businessman he actually is.
“McGregor is one of the best businessmen in this country,” said O’Keefe. “This guy picked up a dole cheque in 2013 and he is of the view to make as much money as he possibly can in a very short space of time. This fight they estimate is going to be something like $600 million in what it will generate revenue wise. When you look at the break down of that revenue - $77 million or so will come from ticket sales and about $20 million from sponsorship and almost $500m will come from TV, it’s all going to be pay per-view. What will happen here is that Mayweather and McGregor will get a percentage of the money that will be generated from the pay per-view sales. This fight will be wall to wall publicity with both guys calling each other all sorts of names leading up to the fight. The more people that buy the subscription, the more money these two guys get.”
Early reports are coming in that McGregor will take home over $100m and Mayweather will be likely to take home in or around the same. However Mayweather's biggest payday was against Manny Pacquiao, when he took home over $300m back in 2015.
“The Forbes rich list came out last week,” said O’Keefe. “Cristiano Ronaldo was at the top of the list making $100m last year. Conor Mcgregor is set to make that amount of money in one night.”
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