McGregor vs Mayweather: fight time in Australia, odds, tale of the tape

A Conor McGregor victory would see Las Vegas bookies post the biggest sports betting loss ever.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor at their final press conference.

Superfight or superfarce? Whatever your opinion of Sunday’s clash between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Conor McGregor there is one thing for sure — it is super box office.

Mayweather Jr, one of the greatest pound-for-pound boxers of all time, has been tempted back into the ring to take on UFC superstar McGregor — who will box professionally for the first time. Here is everything you need to know about the big fight, including fight times, why the bookies are nervous and tale of the tape.

When is it on and how do I follow it?

The fight takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will be broadcast live in Australia on the morning of Sunday, August 27 from 11am via Main Event.

The fight costs $59.95 to order and will be replayed at 6pm and then midnight. There are three fights scheduled on the main undercard before the main event, so expect the big fight sometime after 1pm, although all undercard bouts are subject to change.

Fancy watching it on the big screen? Event Cinemas will also be screening the clash — and you can even grab a beer at some of the venues. Tickets starts from $28 but we’d advise booking your seat in advance, especially if you fancy taking in the action from the comfort of gold class (from $45).

LIVE: The countdown is on for #MayweatherMcGregor. https://t.co/aDlKFyLf0q pic.twitter.com/IslS0zV7vt

— The Australian (@australian) August 26, 2017

And, of course, you can follow all the build-up, analysis and round-by-round action online at The Australian with Brent Read covering the fight ringside from Las Vegas.

Follow live coverage here.

What about the undercard?

A couple of cracking world title fights on there, including Gervonta Davis taking on Francisco Fonseca for the IBF Super-Featherweight Title and Nathan Cleverley against Badou Jack for the WBA Light-Heavyweight Title. Also on the card is Andrew Tabiti v Steve Cunningham (Cruiserweight), Yordennis Ugas v Thomas Dulorme (welterweight) and two-time Olympian Savannah Marshall making her pro debut against Amy Coleman after signing up with Mayweather promotions.

Conor McGregor says he is relaxed about the fight — but the bookies disagree. Picture: AFP

What do the bookies say?

Mayweather is favourite, but the odds for McGregor have shortened considerably. McGregor is now as short as $4.60 with William Hill; Mayweather a fairly unbackable $1.22. Unbackable, that is, unless you’ve deep pockets like one Las Vegas punter who has placed $880,000 on the American fighter for a $160,000 profit. The smart money, according to many experts is on a Mayweather points decision at $3.75.

Whoa! The money is starting to come in on @FloydMayweather at the @southpointlv. Biggest bet in Vegas yet? @VSiNLive pic.twitter.com/Kw4VGDOQPe

— Mitch Moss (@MitchMossRadio) August 11, 2017

Looking for a little extra value? You can get $8 on Donald Trump attending and $34 for there to be a rematch under Mixed Martial Arts rules.

A board displays odds for different bets for the fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor. Picture: AP

Should the bookies be nervous?

Yes, this is, after all, boxing and anything can happen. The Las Vegas bookmakers could be looking at the biggest single event loss in the history of sports betting should McGregor pull off the early knockout. McGregor fans have flooded sports books with $100 bills backing the mixed martial arts fighter, and even a late surge of money on Mayweather might not be enough to balance the books

“I’m OK now,” William Hill oddsmaker Nick Bogdanovich told AAP. “But you might want to have a heart monitor on me when the bell rings and Conor starts throwing wild lefts.” There have been big Mayweather bets including at the MGM Grand, which saw a $500,000 wager on Wednesday. MGM Resorts oddsmaker Jay Rood, though, said the sheer volume of McGregor bets is overwhelming the big Mayweather bet. Rood said his books have taken 6,700 bets on McGregor and only 300 on Mayweather. The average bet on McGregor is $125, while the average for Mayweather is $4,000.

Tale of the tape

What are the fighters saying?

“This is my last one. I gave my word to (adviser) Al Haymon, I gave my word to my children, I don’t want to break that,” said Mayweather, who retired from boxing in 2015 with a perfect 49-0 record to emulate former heavyweight legend Rocky Marciano. “I’m going to stick to my word — this is going to be my last fight.”

“I don’t want people saying, ‘Oh, it was a lucky punch’ and all that. Part of me is hoping maybe he can last so I can show some skill and dismantle him that way. But I do not see him absorbing the blows in the first few rounds,” said McGregor.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (L) has not fought since beating Andre Berto at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, in 2015. Picture: AF

What’s with the gloves?

Nevada boxing regulators have approved an exemption to the rule requiring 10-ounce gloves for the 154-pound fight so that both fighters can wear 8-ounce gloves.

Bookies have seen that as a boost to McGregor, who is used to fighting with smaller gloves and theoretically should boost his power. But Mayweather has fought all but three of his professional fights with 8-ounce gloves and has never been knocked out in any of them. They could also aid his hand speed. Ultimately, though, it will benefit both fighters and their pockets as a more competitive match-up should boost PPV sales.

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor goes through his paces for the media. Picture: AFP

And the sparring controversy?

McGregor brought former Paulie Malignaggi into his training camp — only for the former world champion to quit after accusing the UFC champion of disrespecting him in the ring and the dressing room.

McGregor’s camp posted a video on the internet at the weekend of what they claim is a knockdown of Malignaggi by McGregor. The poor quality video appears to show Malignaggi off balance and falling to the canvas but it is not clear if it was a punch or a slip.

Here is the video everyone wanted to see of Conor vs Paulie Malignaggi former IBF and WBA World Champion @TheNotoriousMMA pic.twitter.com/GfFP3SKsye

— Dana White (@danawhite) August 12, 2017

“He was looking for an exit,” McGregor said of Malignaggi. “The spars were not good for him. He took a lot of head trauma. Straight after it we were worried. The sparring partners were actually telling us when he was dropped back at the home that he was stumbling out of the car after the 12-rounder.”

The money is huge

Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao’s “fight of the century” saw live gate receipts produce more than $71 million in revenue at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, easily surpassing the previous live gate record of $20 million, for Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez. Mayweather is tipped to earn in excess of US$200m, McGregor around half of that.

Although there are expected to be some empty seats, largely because of astronomical prices, the pay-per-view is expected to be watched by some 50 million people in the United States alone and millions more worldwide. There are still around 1000 tickets for sale, although the cheapest and most expensive briefs have sold out but UFC President Dana White insists ticket sales will bring in around US$70m.

Get ready for the big fight

Plenty of stuff on the site to get your teeth into ahead of Sunday
• Rise of McGregor: from plumber to primetime
• How McGregor can triumph
• Mayweather’s weighty claims
• The chaos theory

Compiled from agencies