Look, I understand that Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor have to sell tickets to this sham disguised as an evenly contested boxing match, but Thursday’s New York City appearance at the Barclays Center just took boxing into racist theatrics that would make even the WWE cringe.
In the first two stops (Los Angeles and Toronto), the two men did a marvelous job of exciting fans of this lopsided affair—minus, of course, McGregor’s historically racist chant of “Dance, boy.” Both men were brash and affable; in fact, I penned a piece noting that McGregor did a better job of out-Mayweather-ing Mayweather. But as the tour has dragged on—I know it’s only been three stops thus far, but it feels like it’s been 300—claims of McGregor’s racism have begun to put a dark cloud on what was merely supposed to be a buildup to a fight he can’t win.
Then came Thursday in New York. Both fighters were more than an hour late arriving for said press conference; in fact, they hung arguably the world’s greatest entertainer, Doug E. Fresh, out to dry, since Fresh had the impossible task of trying to keep a rowdy Barclays crowd entertained until the two fighters showed up, and Lord knows there is only so much beatboxing one can take.
Here’s how Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole described the spectacle once the two men arrived:
McGregor entered first, and he was wearing a white mink coat with a dragon on the back, no shirt and floral pants. Mayweather followed, walking down a ramp wrapped in the Irish flag to taunt McGregor. When he reached the stage, Mayweather disrespectfully dropped the flag on the ground.
That was the high point of the show.
McGregor then went on to address claims that he’s racist, quoted, in this excerpt of the Yahoo! Sports article, as saying:
“A lot of you in the media seem to be saying I’m against black people. That’s absolutely ridiculous. Do they not know I’m half black? I’m half black from the bellybutton down.”
If that wasn’t bad enough, he added, “Here’s a present for my beautiful black female fans.”
He then began to swivel and gyrate his hips like Elvis Presley once did.
Yep, that is what the press tour has become: one big, insulting black-dick joke from the Irish guy who doesn’t have a chance in hell of beating the old guy, whose record of beating women makes him equally deplorable. It’s all one big-black-dick joke on viewers who actually believe this fight is worth watching. And, of course, Mayweather responded to the insults hurled by a shirtless McGregor by showering the MMA fighter and the stage in money while making some derogatory stripper remarks.
Look, when it comes to MMA, there are few fighters who are more watchable then McGregor. He likes to mix it up and isn’t afraid to leave it all in the ring. When it comes to boxing, Mayweather is about as boring as they come for those who want to see an all-out brawl.
Like watching a no-hitter in baseball, a Mayweather fight is really only for boxing fans who truly appreciate the sweet science. And for real boxing fans who can remember when there was another great white hype, a Brit by the name of Ricky Hatton. Oh, he was going to destroy Mayweather and shut his mouth up once and for all. Hatton’s fate ended at the end of a check hook that he never saw coming.
At this point, McGregor and Mayweather aren’t selling the fight; they’re causing some of us to turn away, and that’s probably better, since there really is nothing to see here.
Read more at Yahoo! Sports.