By: Sean Crose
If there’s one thing boxers and mixed martial artists have in common, it’s a universal awareness of how dangerous combat sports can be. Although MMA may prove to be more painful, with it’s torturous holds and tapouts, boxing may arguably be more dangerous thanks to the steady and relentless head trauma boxers are apt to receive at a breakneck pace throughout the course of a bout. And, indeed, it’s the matter of physical danger that has led many of boxing’s ring doctors to publicly object to Saturday’s super bout between undefeated boxing king Floyd Mayweather and MMA superstar Conor McGregor.
The New York Times, which doesn’t seem to be any kind of fan of the mouthy McGregor, nonetheless published an article on Friday titled “Is McGregor Safe Fighting Mayweather? Ringside Physicians Say No.” Written by Joe DePaolo, the piece focuses on the Association of Ringside Physician’s beleif that McGregor is risking more than a single loss when fighting Mayweather Saturday night – he’s risking his own well being in a quite notable way. “The thing I really fear, truly fear,” Association president Larry Lovelace is quoted as saying, “is that somebody’s going to get really hurt in this upcoming fight.”
It’s obiovus that Lovelace and his Association are particularly concerned with McGregor’s safety this weekend. “We are,” Lovelace, himself an M.D., states earlier in the same paragraph, “very surprised this bout was even sanctioned and was going to be permitted to carry on.” Most followers of boxing and, in particular, those who follow the Nevada State Athletic Commission, probably weren’t as surprised as Lovelace. For, fair or not, the Commission has a reputation for putting money first and foremost. And Mayweather-McGregor is so much about money, it’s actually being promoted as “The Money Fight.”
The issue here is that McGregor, tough and talented though he may be, has never boxed professionally in his life. And boxing, with all that brutal punching, is a lot different from mixed martial arts. The article goes on to quote famed boxing referee Richard Steele, who claims he has concerns of his own. “Here’s a guy from one sport,” he says, “challenging the world’s best in his own sport – I really don’t know how it’s going to work.” Despite whatever questions Steele and others may have, the fight is most certainly a go – an event which will unquestionably bring in an overwhelming amount of eyeballs and money.
The world may have to wait until Saturday to see if the words “safety first” really carry much weight when faced off against massive sums of money and public interest.
