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Floyd Mayweather Jr makes his long-awaited return to the ring tomorrow evening, sharing the spotlight with MMA ruler Conor McGregor as the two prepare for a scheduled 12 rounds of combat in the light middleweight division at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV.
Mayweather, 49-0 (26), makes his attempt at Boxing immortality via besting Rocky Marciano’s long-standing 49-0 record by facing McGregor, who has never engaged in a pro boxing contest but is the current 155 lb UFC champion, having previously held titles at 145 and 170 lb, and has a MMA record of 21-3 (18).
At today’s weigh-in, Mayweather tipped the scales at 149.5 lb, while McGregor came in at 153 lb.
The pairing will reportedly break the all-time boxing financial pay-per-view record held by Mayweather’s victory over Manny Pacquiao in 2015, which ironically was widely lambasted as a boring fight by fans and many expect Mayweather vs. McGregor to produce a similar effect.
Mayweather’s cautious, defensive oriented approach to boxing almost guarantees a uneventful “safety-first” effort from him, but McGregor has vowed to force his rival to fight, which is the Irishman’s only real hope to actually win this contest.
McGregor is hoping that his unorthodox approach to boxing will give Mayweather problems, just as a similar effort waged by Marcos Rene Maidana in 2014, gave Mayweather his most difficult challenge to date.
The 29 year old Dublin man is also banking on his southpaw stance to possible be troubling to Mayweather, who was given trouble earlier in his career by lefties DeMarcus Corely and Zab Judah.
There are two world title bouts also on the bill, featuring Mayweather Promotions’ boxers Gervonta Davis and Badou Jack.
The heavy-handed Davis, 18-0 (17), was scheduled for the second defense of his IBF super feather title but the 22 year old American was stripped of the belt after failing to make weight by two pounds. This means that only Davis’ opponent, Costa Rica’s Francisco Fonseca, 19-0-1 (13), who weighed 130 lb, is eligible to win the IBF strap.
However, Fonseca is taking a big step up in competition after having faced relatively lower level opposition and will be the clear underdog against the heavily-hyped Davis.
Jack, 21-1-2 (12), is a former WBC super middle titlist going up in weight to face reigning WBA light heavy boss Nathan Cleverly, 30-3 (16), in what should turn out to be the most competitive bout on the entire card.
Both men scaled in at 174.5 lb.
