Mayweather and McGregor set to duke it out in big fight

Global Business

Mayweather and McGregor set to duke it out in big fight

Excitement is building for a major showdown in the boxing ring.  American Floyd Mayweather and Irishman Conor McGregor are set to duke-it-out Saturday.

No matter who comes out on top, one thing is clear; the fight will rake in big bucks – more than half-a-billion dollars by some estimates.

CGTN’s Mark Niu reports from Las Vegas.

In what sometimes seemed like a bad reality TV-show, American Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Irishman Conor McGregor have been trading insults for months.

Forty-year-old Mayweather is undefeated, 49 wins and zero losses. With one more win he could set a new all-time boxing record.

Twenty-nine year-old Irishman Conor McGregor is a two-weight-class champion in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. He’s known for doing something Mayweather isn’t known for-knocking people out.

“He’s a hell of a fighter hell of a fighter. He’s a standup guy. He’s a tough competitor, not gonna be an easy fight. Gonna be blood, sweat and tears,” said Mayweather.

Surprising humility at the Thursday press conference before the bout. Mayweather got philosophical over what he promises will be his last fight.

But McGregor’s cockiness remained despite this being his first professional boxing match ever.

“You should of all kept your mouth shut. You should have left me over in that other game where I’m from…that more ruthless game where we bounce heads off the canvas and drill them into the floor. You should have left me where I was because this man is not on my level. He’s not even a quarter of the man I am,” said McGregor.

But how the story plays out for the record books will boil down to the excitement of the fight. Many considered the mega-fight between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao to be boring, partly due to Mayweather’s counterpunching and win-by-points style of fighting. Nothing came remotely close to a knockout.

Mayweather promises that this time he will please fans by going for a knockout in the first few rounds.

But Mayweather’s father, Floyd Mayweather Sr.,hinted we still might see a classic Mayweather fight.

For more on the business behind the fights CGTN‘s Rachelle Akuffo spoke with Mike Bako, Sports Editor at the DailyNational.com.