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Floyd Mayweather Jr says he will come out of retirement to face UFC star Conor McGregor in a boxing bout on August 27 (AEST).
Mayweather, who retired in September 2015 after winning all 49 of his professional fights, will face a mixed martial arts fighter who has never been in a scheduled 12-round fight in Las Vegas.
The fight that will take place in a boxing ring and be governed by boxing rules.
"It's official," Mayweather said on his Instagram account next to a video poster of both fighters.
"THE FIGHT IS ON," McGregor tweeted several minutes earlier, posting a picture of himself next to one of Mayweather's father, Floyd Sr.
Mayweather will fight at the relatively advanced age of 41 in a bout that McGregor has been pushing for months. It finally came together over the last few days, and Nevada boxing officials have approved the date for a Mayweather Promotions bout.
Though Las Vegas oddsmakers have made Mayweather a heavy 10-1 favorite, the thought of the fight has excited many in the MMA world. It has also intrigued some in boxing, though most dismiss McGregor's chances under boxing rules against one of the greatest defensive fighters in history.
Even if the actual bout may not shape up as a great match-up, the run-up to the fight will. Both fighters are noted for their ability to sell their fights, and both have exchanged in trash talking and more to promote their bouts.
The fight will be televised on pay-per-view on Showtime and would likely gross tens of millions of dollars. It comes less than a month before Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez meet in a highly anticipated fight that could rival it for pay-per-view buys.
"This is really an unprecedented event," said Stephen Espinoza, who heads Showtime Sports, which will handle the pay-per-view.
"Really we haven't seen anything in modern history that resembles it, it's impossible to predict how many sales this will do."
Espinoza said the fight came together quickly after McGregor and the UFC reached agreement last month on their end of the deal and Mayweather's team pushed for the fight in recent days.
"All parties were motivated and reasonable and thrilled we could get everything done," he said.
"The sky's the limit on this."
Financial terms were not released, though Mayweather got the greater share of revenue when he fought Manny Pacquiao and is expected to have a similar percentage against McGregor.
Depending on pay-per-view sales, both fighters could earn huge purses, though probably not the $US200 million or so Mayweather earned for Pacquiao.
"Everybody's happy," said Mayweather's adviser, Leonard Ellerbe.
AP
Topics: boxing, sport, united-states
First posted