Money talks as Conor McGregor versus Floyd Mayweather captures the imagination

Bookies report that this bout will the biggest ever in terms of cash wagered, and support for the Irishman far outweighs his prospects, writes Conall Ó Fátharta

Whether you think it’s a fight or a farce, when Ireland’s own Conor McGregor steps between the ropes and faces off with Floyd Mayweather Jr, it’s going to be hard to ignore.

Mayweather is regarded by many to be the best boxer of his generation. Despite his ultra-cautious and defensive style, he is also the biggest draw in the sport and the highest paid sportsman on the planet.

As he often puts it himself, fighting him is like winning the lottery for many fighters. The best boxers in the profession spend years fighting their way to the top for the chance to fight, and ultimately, lose to the man from Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Yet a 29-year-old from Crumlin who hasn’t had a single fight as an amateur, let alone as a professional, will do it late on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

With no background in the sport, Conor McGregor will be one half of the biggest and most lucrative boxing fight in history. In just four short years, he will have climbed to the top of two combat sports — an astonishing achievement by any stretch of the imagination.

It’s been quite the ride for the Crumlin man, who moved to Lucan with his family as a teenager. After leaving school at 17, his mother got him a trade as an apprentice plumber. However, even at that early age, McGregor knew the humdrum life of early starts on building sites was not for him.

“I was up by five o’clock in the morning. I used to have to walk a half an hour to get to the motorway,” he told MMA Digest.

“I stand on the corner of the motorway and I waited for some hillbilly to come by and pick me up. I’d have to sit in his car and sit in traffic for about two hours just to get to the building site. I get to the building site and it’s cold, dark, wet and I’m sent to do this and sent to do that. It was a rough time. I did not like the life.”

So, while still in his teens, he made a decision that he would become an MMA fighter. From the improbable surroundings of Dublin he would rise to become, by 2017, not only the sport’s only truly global star, but one that transcends MMA as a crossover star.

“I didn’t just leave with no other option. I left and said: ‘I’m going to pursue this dream of fighting for the UFC.’ ”

No Irish person had fought in the octagon at that time.

“So there was not a story or career I could point to an Irish man and say: ‘Look at this guy. This is the career he made for himself,’ because there was no other person before me.”

Both fighters, whether they care to admit it or not, have much in common. Both dominate their respective sports to the degree that they call virtually all the shots in terms of their career. Both are obsessed with their own records and both love money.

At its heart, this fight is not about boxing, MMA, or even sport — it’s all about money. Both fighters know that the other man offers them the biggest payday available.

Few, if any, modern boxing or MMA bouts generate enough heat to grab the casual fan. However, when McGregor and Mayweather come together it’s box office.

The reported figures are staggering. Both men hold “the numbers” records in their respective sports and together they look set to break them again.

McGregor is unquestionably the king of pay per view (PPV) in the MMA. His second fight with Nate Diaz at UFC 202 attracted the most buys ever for an MMA event, while the Dublin man has been in four of the six highest selling PPV MMA events.

However, Mayweather is really true to his ‘Money’ moniker when it comes to PPV. His fight with Manny Pacquiao in May 2015 set the all-time record for a PPV event. That fight took in more than 4.5m buys at an average cost of $99. The fight generated around $400m in TV revenue. The American earned at least $180m for his 36 minutes in the ring. The question is will this fight break those records. Most analysts believe it will,

making both man eye watering amounts of money.

Figuring out what both men will take home after Saturday night depends on a range of factors, including PPV sales, ticket sales, and sponsorship deals, among others.

However, it’s being reported that, if PPV figures stay in line with the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout, the fight will be worth in the region of $300m, with an additional $700m in revenue.

So what will the fighters make out of that? The exact split will not be revealed as both fighters signed confidentiality agreements but

insiders suspect it is likely 70-30 or 75-25 in Mayweather’s favour.

So, at a likely minimum, Mayweather will come away with around $200m and above and McGregor anything north of $75m.

If the bookies are anything to go by, the figures could be even higher. They are reporting that this is already the biggest fight in history in terms of the amount being wagered. Despite having never boxed before, such is the following behind the Dublin man that much of the money is on him.

Paddy Power have offered an insight into the staggering popularity of the bout, and expect a staggering €220m to be taken in by the British and Irish industry alone on the fight.

Such is the interest in the bout, it is easily Paddy Power’s biggest boxing betting market of all time, and their biggest sporting event of the year.

More than 80% of the bets taken by the Irish bookie have been by punters backing McGregor.

One punter staked £650,000 on a McGregor win at 10/3 — which would return winnings of more than £2.8m.

McGregor’s prediction of a fourth round stoppage would cost them more than €12m.

However, Paddy Power is so confident of a Mayweather victory it has already paid out — including €50,000 to one punter.

“This is the biggest fight in history — at least in terms of betting,” said a Paddy Power spokesperson. “From our perspective, despite always wanting the Irishman to do well in major sporting events, we think a Mayweather victory is inevitable, and paid out —because we checked, and only one of them is a boxer.”

However, it doesn’t really matter. Even if McGregor is outclassed, nobody expected him to win. If he pulls off the upset, it’s one of the biggest in the history of the sport. Either way, he gets paid. And handsomely.