Sport never stops moving and no doubt Conor McGregor will be feeling the weight of that momentum with news that Floyd Mayweather and Khabib Nurmagomedov are squaring up for another lucrative cross code bout.
In fact, lucrative is hardly the word with Mayweather talking of up to a $200 million guaranteed payday.
The American boxer is undefeated with 50 wins to his name. The Russian is 27-0 albeit in the less competitive world of UFC.
The sporting credentials of such a fight are a lot less attractive than some of the more theatrical and indeed political ones.
Those of a certain age will remember Apollo Creed and then Rocky Balboa taking on the representative of the Russian Empire in Ivan Drago. It was the US of A against the Red Menace at the height of the Cold War.
Drago had killed Apollo Creed in the first fight, and Rocky was carrying the hopes of a nation into the ring in Moscow. 45 pounds lighter and seven inches shorter the plucky underdog came through and his words after the win to the Russian crowd were “During this fight, I’ve seen a lot of changing, in the way you feel about me, and in the way I feel about you. I guess what I am trying to say is, if I can change, and you can change, everybody can change!”
It was pure Hollywood but the American audiences lapped it up. There are some who would say that Rocky was one of the greatest American sports stars.
Now in 2018, we have another Russian baddy, pictured taking tea with Vladimir Putin, and an American president Donald Trump who was ringside for Mayweather’s fight against Manny Pacquiao in 2015 and who the boxer defended previously over his ‘locker room’ talk.
McGregor was a showman and a great trash talker but he didn’t have the same superpower credentials as Nurmagomedov. For a guy who loves the spotlight, it will be hard to see how its focus had shifted.
That rolling on of time is a lot more relevant to sport than any match between the two undefeated Champions but you wouldn’t bet against it taking place.
Lucky Pants and Strip Clubs – Read our interview with Paddy Power’s Paul Mallon about the promotion of the McGregor fight in 2017.
