Upcoming Mayweather- McGregor bout perfectly suited to its times

For decades, certain major sporting events have come to symbolize – for better or for worse – the historical time periods during which they took place. Texas Western’s 1966 NCAA basketball championship helped promote the integration of college basketball, for example, and 1980’ s “Miracle on Ice” helped pull the US out of a Jimmy Carter- induced malaise. The upcoming Floyd MayweatherConor McGregor boxing match ( August 26) seems sure to be a product of its time as well.

Twenty years ago, the fi ght would never have taken place. Mixed martial arts, the sport that has propelled McGregor to international celebrity, didn’t occupy the same space in popular culture ( sports or otherwise) as it does today. And a boxer holding multiple title belts like Mayweather would never have stooped to a competitive endeavor from an athlete outside the “sweet science’s” holy realm.

But Mayweather- McGregor is a perfect fi t in today’s reality television obsessed, confl ict- heavy American culture. The opening night of a three- country, four- city media extravaganza promoting the fi ght had supporters of both fi ghters ( and sports) shaking their heads, admitting they’d never seen anything like it and hoping that the fi ght could ultimately live up to its considerable hype.

Unfortunately, a 21st- century “if some is good, more is better” mind- set soon took over, and the give- and- take between the two fi ghters ultimately devolved into a repetitive, non- entertaining circus. Fans on both sides of the aisle made claims of racism and anti- homosexual slurs, another perfect fi t for today’s everyone’s- a- victim culture.

Will the bout ultimately prove to be competitive? Probably not. As far as boxing goes, Mayweather’s sills are undoubtedly superior to McGregor’s, and the “duck- and- cover” strategy that has defi ned the better part of his career should be more than enough to guarantee him a win. But fans thirsting for a knockout or other clear- cut victory might be resigned to watching replays of the initial press conference in Los Angeles, when the insults fl ew fast and furious and the possibilities seemed endless.