Floyd Mayweather Fighting Conor McGregor Aug. 26 in Vegas

The hiatus he insisted was a retirement, until he tiptoed back toward the arena and said that a certain set of zeros could bring him back, will soon to be over for Floyd Mayweather, the 49-0 pugilist-specialist who last gloved up in September 2015.

The 40 year old Grand Rapids, Michigan native, who of late has been overseeing his new strip club in Las Vegas, Girl Collection, and his boxing promotional company, will fight UFC mixed martial artist Conor McGregor, the best shit talker in any fight sport, Aug. 26 in Las Vegas.

Yahoo reported it first, McGregor confirmed and then at 5:30 PM ET, Floyd confirmed, thusly:

They will fight using the rules of professional boxing.

Showtime offered a no comment when asked to confirm/deny, before Floyd confirmed via social.

McGregor himself seemingly confirmed the cat being out of the money bag on social media, after Yahoo and TMZ had a story. He added a lead jab smack talk launch, using a photo of Floyd’s dad instead of Floyd. (Friends, be forewarned and know that the leadup to the fight could well be the most entertaining portion, as Mayweather is a majestic pugilist and Conor is a decent boxer within MMA circles. Here you can see pro Chris Van Heerden sparring McGregor and decide for yourself how the Irishman will fare versus the best defensive fighter of this generation.

Fan reaction will be a mixed bag. Multitudes have opined that they want nothing to do with this event and that Floyd will slaughter McGregor. Many of those same folks say they will tune in. But it is risky business–the blowback from the May 2015 Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao bite was severe, with people complaining they were overcharged, for the return on entertainment value received, and the sport took a hit.

There is no shortage of boxing bigs who say the same is inevitable with #Maygregor. Eric Gomez of Golden Boy offered a “no comment” when asked about the “stealing of thunder” angle. And that’s not even touching on the more immediate complicator–Miguel Cotto, new to Golden Boy, is set to fight Yoshihiro Kamegai, on HBO “regular” from California the same night. Yes, it would be a win-win for Floyd if he does massive business and dents Oscars’ on the same night.

When folks caught wind of this being the possible date for the Mayweather comeback–and final fight, for real, maybe?—cynics and smarts noted that to set it before the Canelo Alvarez vs Gennady Golovkin PPV set for Sept. in Las Vegas is something of a pre-emptive, eff you, Oscar, move by Floyd, meant to steal Golden Boy thunder. There may be something to that, too…

What say you?

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