LAS VEGAS — The fight is on.
Yahoo Sports is reporting that unbeaten boxer Floyd Mayweather will take on UFC light heavyweight champion Conor McGregor in a boxing match on August 26 in Las Vegas.
Terms of the deal were not available, but the fight will be held at either the MGM Grand Garden or T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The bout will be distributed via Showtime pay-per-view. It will an entirely boxing card. Mayweather Promotions will be the lead promoter.
Mayweather, who has a 49-0 professional record, had said he was retiring after his last bout. But a fight that could pay each man in excess of $100 million apparently cause him to reconsider.
Mayweather is considered the greatest boxer of his generation and among the best of all-time. The fight with McGregor, in addition to paying him in excess of nine figures, will give him the opportunity to improve to 50-0.
McGregor is one of the elite mixed martial arts fighters in the world, but has never boxed before, either amateur or pro. He won the UFC’s featherweight title in a 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo on Dec. 12, 2015. He then split a pair of non-title welterweight fights with Nate Diaz before knocking out Eddie Alvarez on Nov. 12, 2016, in New York to win the lightweight belt and become the first fighter to hold two UFC championships simultaneously.
Jeff Sherman, the oddsmaker at the Westgate sports book in Las Vegas, made Mayweather a minus-1000 favorite. McGregor is plus-650.
