It looked as if a Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight was just a fantasy, but they go toe-to-toe on 26 August.
The fight all came about by chance, according to one of the leading negotiators in getting the deal done.
Stephen Espinozo, executive vice president of Showtime, was deeply involved in negotiations but stated that the wheels were set in motion when Mayweather just happened to be in New York the weekend that McGregor fought Eddie Alvarez at Madison Square Garden.
He was speaking on the MMA Hour on Monday.
“Floyd just happened to be in New York City that weekend… and I believe it was TMZ that caught him outside his jewellery shop,” he told Ariel Helwani
“That’s one of the first times that Floyd sort of responded and it touched off Conor and Dana (White) and it snowballed from there.
“If Floyd is not jewellery shopping on the Monday after the Alvarez fight and caught by TMZ I’m not sure if we’re talking right now.”
However, Espinozo’s claim doesn’t exactly hold through. The seed was planted in the minds of McGregor and Mayweather long beforehand. Six months prior to McGregor’s fight against Eddie Alvarez, the UFC fighter tweeted this.
MMA Vs Boxing. pic.twitter.com/qgl8tKvT5s
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) May 8, 2016
This was followed by Floyd Mayweather’s photoshopped attempt of a fight poster three weeks later.
.@badmedina https://t.co/648Qb26FTL pic.twitter.com/67agluPAGt
— Floyd Mayweather (@FloydMayweather) May 30, 2016
The official fight poster is, ehm, slightly better.
Check out the official poster for the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor boxing match https://t.co/20qe3hTQSi pic.twitter.com/Vmt9p3v1Lb
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) June 15, 2017
