It’s a billion-dollar gimmick... so why not just enjoy it?

THREE fights stick out in my mind from the last 12 months. The hand-speed of Jorge Linares was mesmerising in the first of his two contests with Anthony Crolla last September, the power of Gervonta Davis was breathtaking when he demolished Liam Walsh last month and the nobility of Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko was both uplifting and thrilling when they fought out their epic duel at Wembley in April.

It was a privilege to be at ringside for all three of those fights. Each was among the most exciting, most skilful and most courageous passages of sport that I’ve seen in the last year. It feels as if the ranks are filled with fine fighters, as if boxing might be on the verge of another golden age.

British boxing is awash with world champions. Carl Frampton, James DeGale and Lee Selby are all class acts. Amir Khan is still out there. Callum Smith fights for a world title in September. Joshua rules the heavyweight division and, if Tyson Fury finds it within himself to fight again, then their collision would be a fascinating, high-octane clash of styles.

The world scene is thriving too. Gennady Golovkin, who many consider the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, will meet Canelo Alvarez later this year. Errol Spence showed what a class act he was against Kell Brook. And t hen t here is t he man others consider the best of all the current fighters, the super-featherweight, Vasyl Lomachenko.

So I don’t really see what boxing has to fear from the news that Floyd Mayweather Jnr will fight UFC superstar Conor McGregor in Las Vegas on August 26. I see what UFC has to fear from it. But not boxing.

Let’s not be too sniffy about it. Accept that it’s a massive marketing stunt and acknowledge that it is a contest between one of the best boxers in history and a man who has never fought a boxing match in his life and take it from there. If the prospect of it appals you, then don’t buy it. It’s simple.

It is not really a proper fight anyway. It’s a sideshow. It’s an offshoot. It’s a bit like the Battle of the Sexes between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, without any of the redemptive effects that match-up had in the way it altered perceptions of women’s sport.

The Battle of the Sexes was tennis but not really as we know it. This will be boxing but not really as we know it. It is a piece of vaudeville. It is a curiosity. It is a circus act. It is a giant, billion-dollar gimmick.

That’s OK, though, isn’t it? I’ll watch it when the time comes. Not in the same way I’d be eager to watch Linares-Crolla or JoshuaKlitschko, to see who wins a test of pugilism, but to find out whether it will be as one-sided as everyone thinks it will be. Look, I seem to recall people asking for their money back after May weather beat Manny Pacquiao two years ago. They said they’d been fleeced. They said the fight was not what they had been promised. That was because they didn’t know boxing. At least this time, they have been properly warned.

May weather-McGregor is unlikely to be a particularly edifying spectacle and my hunch is that it will end with some sort of absurd controversy. Maybe McGregor will revert to UFC rules when it is clear he is being outclassed. Maybe he will try and choke Mayweather out. Who knows. Either way, I’m betting on a disqualification.

And here’s a point no one actually seems to have considered: it might actually be entertaining. And when was the last time a Mayweather fight was entertaining? He is simply too good to be entertaining. He is a genius of a defensive fighter. No one has been able to lay a glove on him since he fought Miguel Cotto five years ago. His fights rarely make for a spectacle. Whatever happens in the fight, it will throw up a fascinating debate about the merits of boxing and UFC. The odds will be stacked heavily in Mayweather’ s favour because he is a master fighting a novice. The odds are it will be over early on. And what will it say about UFC if its biggest star is outclassed and humiliated by a middle-aged guy who retired from boxing a couple of years ago and is well past his peak? It won’t do a lot for the brand. It won’t do a lot for the idea that UFC represents the future of professional combat sports.

Boxing, in contrast, would be immeasurably strengthened. It would give it new currency and relevance.

A Mayweather victory would allow boxing to maintain its status as fighting’s big brother and perhaps gain it a new generation of fans.

If t he opposite happens and McGregor stuns the world and wins, then that’s fine, too. What a story that would be. What a fillip for UFC. Cage fighting would get the best publicity it has ever had. Boxing would say its man was washed up after two years out of the ring and would point to its current champions.

Some of those who have been complaining loudest about May weather-McGregor are probably jealous they’re not getting a cut of the action. Is it really that difficult to laugh when grandiose claims are made on its behalf?

Is it asking too much of our intelligence that we treat MayweatherMcGregor for what it is?

It won’t be Joshua-Klitschko. It won’t be Linares-Crolla. It won’t be Davis- Walsh. What it will be is something that blurs the lines between sport and showbiz.

But we know that and so we’ve got a choice. Tune out if you want to but I’m going to sit back and enjoy the show.