Mayweather vs. McGregor boxing match now in ‘exploratory phase’

Floyd-Mayweather-Conor-McGregor

Floyd Mayweather, left, and Conor McGregor, right are two of the biggest stars in the history of combat sports. (AP photos)

Get out your umbrellas and ponchos, boys and girls. It’s about to start raining hot takes.

The fantasy boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and UFC superstar Conor McGregor is ever so slightly inching closer to reality.

“I would classify this dream fight as now in more of the exploratory phase,” MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani told Jeff Blair and Stephen Brunt on Sportnset 590 The Fan Friday morning. “I think it went from pipe dream, ridiculous, let’s just keep using our names in the public to gain some press and some headlines, to now people actually behind the scenes going out and exploring how they can get this done. Why are they exploring and why do they need to explore? Because there’s a lot of cooks in this kitchen.

“This is a real thing now and it needs our attention.”

UFC president Dana White has always been steadfastly against co-promotion. It’s one of the reasons why we never saw MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko compete in the UFC.

However, with new WME-IMG needing to accrue a tremendous amount of revenue in the near future to pay off a debt attached to the purchase of the UFC, they’re not going to overlook a potential cash cow that would be this fight.

“I’ll tell you what, Floyd. Here’s a real offer–and I’m the guy, I’m the guy who can make the offer–and I’m actually making a real offer,” White told The Herd with Colin Cowherd Friday afternoon. “We’ll pay you $25 million, we’ll pay Conor $25 million, and then we’ll talk pay-per-view at a certain number. There’s a real offer, okay?”

Mayweather will undoubtedly laugh off this proposal and wipe tears from his eyes with fresh $100 bills. But, hey, every negotiation has a starting point.

“They know what my number is. My number is a guaranteed $100 million. That was my number,” Mayweather told ESPN’s First Take earlier this week. “We are willing to give him $15 million and then we can talk about splitting the percentage—the back end—on the pay-per-view. But of course, we’re the A side.”

So, unless White and the UFC ups the ante, Mayweather will never accept the fight–even though the fight is likely the only thing that will bring Mayweather out of retirement at this point.

“Only thing I’m probably interested in is the Conor McGregor fight,” Mayweather said. “I’m a businessman, and it makes business sense. I believe in what me and [my adviser] Al Haymon talk about every day. I believe in working smarter, not harder.”

Agreeing on all the financial terms is perhaps the biggest obstacle, but certainly not the only one.

What weight would they fight at? Where would it air? How much would the PPV cost fans? What type of drug testing would the fighters undergo? Would the Nevada State Athletic Commission even approve the bout if McGregor was granted a licence in the state? The Irishman has one in California but not Nevada and he has never boxed professionally.

“There’s so many hurdles it almost gives me a headache, but they are exploring it,” Helwani added. “They’re trying to see what it will take to get it done and that’s a lot more further along than where we were around a month ago or so…

“The buildup would be something else. Between these two guys, the spectacle would be unlike anything we’ve ever seen.”

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.