By Michael Stets
ALLEN PARK–The highly anticipated fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor became official on Wednesday evening, sending the combat sports world into a frenzy with the reality that a bout between one of the greatest boxers ever and a current UFC champion was finally a reality.
Mayweather, undefeated in boxing at 49-0, and McGregor, the UFC lightweight champion, will meet in the ring on August 26 at T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas, Nev. The fight, a boxing match at 154 pounds, will be sanctioned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and will air live on Showtime pay-per-view.
The fight, which is expected to be one of the highest grossing bouts in combat sports history, isn’t just creating a buzz inside the world of the fight game. It’s reaching quite far outside of it. There are plenty of athletes outside of boxing and MMA who are also excited about the upcoming super fight between Mayweather and McGregor.
On the third day of mandatory mini camp on Thursday, WJR spoke to several Lions players about Mayweather vs. McGregor, if they will be watching and who they think will win.
Lions tight end Eric Ebron told WJR he is excited about the matchup, but upset about the timing of it.
“I don’t know, man,” he said, when asked if he’d watch. “I’m just mad as hell they planned it during camp.That’s pretty much it. I cannot wait. I cannot wait.”
Who does he think will win?
“I don’t know,” Ebron said. “It’s hard to put your money against someone that hasn’t lost. I don’t know. I look forward to it though.”
Is he going to watch?
“Probably,” Ebron said. “I don’t know. We will probably have just broken camp, or we will probably be a week out of camp. We will probably end up doing something. I don’t know. Camps hard. We will probably be tired.”
#Boxing & #UFC collide in the fight no one believed was possible. @FloydMayweather vs. @TheNotoriousMMA on 8/26. #MayweatherMcGregor pic.twitter.com/BBhZn62D5L
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) June 15, 2017
The price of the pay-per-view hasn’t been disclosed for the bout between Mayweather and McGregor, but it is expected to be similar to the price of the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacqiao PPV fight, which was $99. Lions cornerback Darius Slay says he’s not going to pay that much to watch.
“I’m not going to pay all that money to watch that fight, because Floyd is going to beat him up bad, bad,” said Slay, who said he’s planning on going to a friend’s house whose ordering the fight to watch it. “That’s like the Patriots playing Golden State in football. That’s crazy. I can’t believe Floyd is even doing this. I know he’s a business man, so he can make a lot of money and beat him up.”
Slay’s prediction: “Floyd is going to knock him out.”
“There’s probably an 80 percent chance that Floyd wins that one, but McGregor is still an elite athlete so it will be interesting to watch,” said Lions defensive end Anthony Zettel, who has done some MMA training while in college at Penn State.
Will Zettel be watching?
“I hope so,” he said. “We will be in camp and stuff so we will see. I’m going to watch it regardless. I’ve been waiting for that for a while.”
The second-year defensive end is also a fan of former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, who has recently returned to the sport after retiring back in 2013.
“It’s going to be good to see him back,” said Zettel on St-Pierre. “I don’t know if he has the knockout power he used to, but he will definitely still outwrestle people and get people on the ground.”
Lions cornerback Teez Tabor, the team’s 2017 second-round pick out of Florida, says he’s going to watch the fight. Tabor is represented by Malki Kawa and First-Round Management, who represent former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and several other MMA fighters.
Tabor said he’s “Gotta go with Floyd. He’s one of my idols.”
Why is Mayweather one of his idols?
“[He’s] A kid like me who had a dream and is doing really big things to take care of his family. I just looked up to him and [his career has shown that] anything is possible with hard work and dedication.”
One of the Lions most experienced veterans, safety Glover Quin, is certainly interested in seeing Mayweather take on McGregor.
“I will definitely watch it,” he said.
Quin’s prediction: “Floyd,” he said. “Too easy.”
There will be plenty of Mayweather detractors who will be rooting hard to see the undefeated boxer lose to McGregor on August 26, which is the day after the Lions play the New England Patriots at home in the team’s third preseason game this summer. But Quin was adamant that he is not one of those guys.
“I don’t hate on greatness. So why would I want to see somebody get to 49-0 and lose? I want to see 50-0. I’m not one of those guys like, ‘I want to see him lose.’ Why? He worked too hard. He worked too hard for me to sit here and hate and say I want to see somebody lose. That’s the experience. I get to see something great.”