Canelo vs. GGG: 5 reasons this is the fight boxing needs

5. It’s a real fight

It’s no secret that the latest “boxing” match that really got people talking was the fight that took place only a few weeks ago. Naturally, I’m talking about Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor.

It’s unfortunate that it took a 40-year-old retired guy and an MMA fighter who had never boxed professionally for the majority of the world to really pay attention to boxing. The whole thing actually made me really sad from the start. I listened and watched for months about how they were really going to make this fight happen and honestly never truly believed that the deal would get done. Imagine my surprise when it actually did. The problem is that, contrary to popular belief, this was never really a fight at all.

I’ll go ahead and admit that curiosity got the better of me and I did watch this monstrosity. I also watched social media and sports outlets around the world praise Conor McGregor for his performance. Um, I’m sorry, what fight were you watching? This was never close and the Irishman, who is a damn good UFC fighter, never had a chance. That’s right, I’ll go ahead and say that again. CONOR MCGREGOR NEVER HAD A CHANCE TO WIN THIS FIGHT! This was never a real fight to begin with.

I am a big fan of Floyd Mayweather and always have been. Allow me to rephrase. I am a big fan of Floyd Mayweather as a boxer and not as a person, so let’s just get that out of the way. People can knock his boxing style all they want, but there have been few better in the history of the sport that can make their opponent do whatever they want in that ring. You can’t put a guy in there that has never boxed professionally and expect him to compete with somebody like that.

I listened to the arguments that McGregor landed more punches on Mayweather than Pacquiao or Miguel Cotto or Shane Mosley and they’re absurd. The reason that happened was that Floyd let him. Outside of a couple of random shots, McGregor looked ridiculous in there. People that talk about Floyd dancing all the time should go back and watch how many times Conor tried to twirl him around.

This bout between Canelo and GGG is an actual boxing match and not a sideshow. These are two of the hardest-hitting boxers in the world, and it’s unfortunate that the pay-per-view buys aren’t going to be what they were for Mayweather vs. McGregor. People just paid $100 to watch that (well, I suppose may have just watched it on Twitter) and a lot of them aren’t going to want to shell out 80 more dollars only a few weeks later to watch a real fight between two of the best boxers in the world, which is a shame. But hey, at least these two actually sold out the venue.