Maybe it’s the four days of travel fatigue. Four days of going on stage late, four days of Floyd Mayweather using recycled material, far too much of which consisted of shouting “Hard work!” for the expected “dedication!” reply. Maybe it’s that the act is wearing thin. Regardless, one thing is certain: the Mayweather-McGregor Press Tour, which came to an end today in London, peaked in Toronto.
It kind of makes you wonder why a four day, multi-city tour was required. In an age of streaming and social media, DVRs and bittorrent, was anyone who wanted to see what these two combatants had to say somehow unable to?
Regardless, there were some entertaining bits in London today. And some controversy.
For one, Conor McGregor backed off the “boy” reference, likely in reaction to accusations of racism, and switched to “kid” (and the reality is, he’s been poking fun at Mayweather’s smaller stature all week). Mayweather then chose to take a risk and refer to McGregor as a “f**got” which will likely spark its own controversy given the homophobic connotation.
Wisely, the entourages were left off the stage this evening, which allowed for a much less chaotic scene in comparison to the dud of a show that was Brooklyn. Even when McGregor rubbed the top of Floyd’s head.
Still, it felt like the best material was used up in Toronto days earlier. The Irish flag, the schoolbag bit, the “Floyd can’t read” joke. Nothing in London really topped that, although the show was noticeably improved from the New York outing.
Floyd Mayweather bombed especially badly, with the highlight of his evening being a reference to Nate Diaz.
Ok maybe someone just should get the cane and pull Floyd out of there. #MayMacWorldTour
— Kenny Florian (@kennyflorian) July 14, 2017
He’d later ask Dana White if they could expand the tour to Dublin, McGregor’s home base. Something fatigued fight fans would no doubt love to avoid, but thankfully, it won’t happen.
The biggest positive? Rather than an empty stage, the fighters were set in a boxing ring, with a pair of tables on either side of the podium. Both did their usual routine, and the crowd was heavily behind McGregor, as it would be given its proximity to Ireland. Yet at the end, there was a brief Q&A with the press, which albeit short provided some insight beyond the trash talk from earlier in the night.
When asked about what the fight does for his legacy, Mayweather talked about taking risks. “If you’re going to take risk,” he said, “take it against the top guys.”
How much risk he’s really taking against a fighter with no professional boxing matches is another question. McGregor, meanwhile, was asked what his goal was for the World Tour, and replied that “the number one goal was to have fun with it.”
Beyond having fun, he said his plan had been to “get up close and personal with this man, see what he’s about. I learned he’s like a little kid. Now I’m looking forward to the real work, and the fight on August 26.”
To all those that doubt him? “They all doubt me, they all try and laugh at everything, they all try to mock me. It’s just something that motivates me.”
In any case, the tour is, perhaps mercifully, over. The PPV will sell like hot cakes, no mater how one-sided the bout is, and in the end, everything that needed to be said had been said by day two.
