Floyd Mayweather, Conor McGregor, Showtime, the UFC and a host of other associated parties are set to coin it from the August 26 bout in Las Vegas.
In the United States, pay-per-view options are either $90, $100 or you just don’t bother. Tickets to see Mayweather vs. McGregor at the T-Mobile Arena will set you back anywhere between $2,500 and $98,500, depending on how close to the ring you want to be.
Both men, and their entourages, set off on a world tour to promote the fight. Drake was there to kick things off in Toronto. Aloe Blac let us all hear the official fight song and even Doug E. Fresh was rustled up on stage to entertain/placate the masses.
Showtime have even sprung for a few episodes of their usually excellent ‘All Access’ documentaries in the lead-up to the fight.
Few expenses have been spared for the sporting spectacle of the summer so we were expecting more from the official Mayweather vs. McGregor fight poster.
And then this was released:
Here is the OFFICIAL @FloydMayweather vs. @TheNotoriousMMA 8/26 fight poster.
1 WEEK: ALL ACCESS: #MayweatherMcGregor premieres 10p ET/PT. pic.twitter.com/njgCJJnomF
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) July 21, 2017
How bloody well underwhelming.
There is no face-off, no fancy graphics, no pull quotes, no 49-0 [for Mayweather] or nod to the UFC [for McGregor]. No trucks of cash or diamond-encrusted belts.
Were we calling the poster shots, we would have went for either something around Esther Lin’s magnificent Toronto face-off or the fine efforts from ‘Bosslogic’.
Esther Lin
https://twitter.com/allelbows/status/885304078233989121
Bosslogic
yeah, a few haha pic.twitter.com/MwAKHAiowR
— BossLogic (@Bosslogic) June 23, 2017
McGregor’s reaction to this poster will be interesting. Early last year, he railed against a lazy effort from the UFC to promote his scheduled bout against Rafael Dos Anjos [before he pulled out at short notice]. McGregor declared:
“I think that’s a department that needs to be looked at, somebody’s sleeping on the job. This is a super-fight. Where are all these historic images?
“These are posters that will be looked back on long after it’s all said and done and then you’ve got to look at that absolute garbage.”
There were plenty of good options out there [see below] so it is a shame that all involved settled on such a bland offering.
#MayweatherMcGregor self-made poster.😍🔥🔥
The money fight.HQ : https://t.co/Y95GFw4dZj#boxing #mma #ufc #mayweather #mcgregor pic.twitter.com/yuKmNqvO6i
— ٰ (@ZakariaSadaq) July 20, 2017
Maybe they’ll have it cracked for the rematch.