McGregor’s improbable challenge

SACRAMENTO, California—Uninterested and unfamiliar with the 29th Southeast Asian Games ongoing in Kuala Lumpur, Filipino-American sports fans are pouring their attention on a mammoth occasion this weekend.

UFC king Conor McGregor’s unlikely challenge of unbeaten yet unloved Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the boxing ring of T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas this Saturday (Sunday afternoon in Manila) should keep Fil-Am sports aficionados pumped up and ready to party with friends and family for a seminal TV event.

The Los Angeles Times reports that a staggering “50 million people in the United States” and millions more worldwide are expected to gather around television sets to see the fusion fight.

The Times said the bout threatens to break the pay-per-view record set by Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao two years ago.

PPV sales of $99.95 a pop are likely to be shared by five to six people “mean more money in the wallets of both fighters,” according to the Times.

“Though estimates vary widely, Mayweather is expected to make some $200 million” in what could be his final payday, “while McGregor will likely pocket at least $100 million,” according to the Times.

Gate receipts to see McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) cross over and tangle with the undefeated Mayweather (49-0) live for 12 rounds at T-Mobile Arena are not that brisk because of astronomical prices ranging from $500 to $10,000, promoters reported.

However, revenues now total $60 million and could still erase Floyd’s box office record of $72 million.

Despite the wildly anticipated financial windfall and the incredible sense of escapism sparked by the match, boxing purists are still shying away.

Professional boxers and trainers interviewed by the Times opined that McGregor “has less than a puncher’s chance” against an unbeaten boxer and will get “counterpunched and knocked out in two to three rounds.”

Now that a Cabinet cluster led by Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano and Presidential Management Staff chief Christopher “Bong” Go has decided that the Philippines will hold the 30th SEA Games after all, several parties involved face a busy next two years.

The Duterte government will spend at least P700 million to host the Games after initially declining due to the Marawi City conflict.

Philippine Sports Commission Chair William Ramirez told me by email that a process is now in motion to pinpoint existing venues at the former Clark Air Force base, Subic, and elsewhere in the National Capital Region required to stage the 2019 sporting conclave.

These will be rented and borrowed, while some will be quickly constructed or rehabilitated as in the case of facilities at Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

Ramirez said a massive fund-raising initiative led by presidential sports adviser Dennis Uy would guarantee the readiness of sports facilities and the training and foreign exposure of athletes not only for the SEA Games, but for the Asiad and the Olympics as well.