The biggest sport wagering event of the year continues its nonsensical tour around the world. This past Thursday, the world tour made a stop in New York City, which is only natural considering the influence the media has in the city that never sleeps.
The stop at New York directly followed Toronto’s event – which was an absolute mad show. The fight game, ever since the days of Muhammad Ali, has been infatuate with fighters who can push the boundaries of the media, fighters who aren’t afraid to disrespect their opponents to their face and then back it up in the ring – or octagon.
The press event at Toronto perfectly epitomized this. Conor McGregor’s antics were not only disrespectful to Floyd Mayweather, they were disrespectful to Showtime and Showtime’s executive vice president Stephen Espinoza.
At Toronto, Espinoza was met with emphatic boos from the crowd. Espinoza was visible upset by the reception, but it was nothing compared to what McGregor had in store for him.
McGregor, who took issue with the microphone problems at Los Angeles – which he completely blamed on Showtime, went straight to Espninoza’s face and proceeded to call him a weasel and other profanities.
Before the Toronto event, Espinoza had informed and apologized to McGregor regarding the issues with the microphones at Los Angeles. However, the Irishman felt that Espinoza was lying to his face and that Showtime was truly behind the cutting of the mic. This prompted the raucous response from Notorious.
After the Toronto event, the whole sports betting online world was left stunned, waiting to see what would happen next. Anxiety and nervousness spread across sports wagering fans, as many felt that things would take a turn for the personal, as well as for the worse. But before we break down what happened in New York, let’s take a look at how the sportsbook lines currently stand.
Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor – Saturday, August 26th
When: TBA
Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
TV: PPV
Stream: Sho.com
Sportsbook Lines:
Floyd Mayweather 9 ½ (-165) -740
Conor McGregor 9 ½ (+145) +520
To say that the New York presser was a failure would be a vast understatement. The fans who attended the event had to wait entirely too long for the show to begin, which left the audience rather drained and very unenthusiastic.
Showtime tried to combat this by putting together a last minute show involving DJ Dougie Fresh, but the crowd had already waited long enough and were in no mood for someone other than McGregor and Mayweather.
On top of that, there were several issues involving the audio at the event. Many of the fans weren’t able to hear what either fighter had to say and it made it seem like both fighters were bombing.
In the end lines were crossed, which has further upped the sports wagering stakes for August 26th. McGregor has been facing accusations of racism for telling Floyd to dance for him and calling him a boy.
It’s worth nothing that Notorious is Irish and not American. Slavery was most prevalent in the US and the custom of having slaves dance for entertainment was more ubiquitous in the states. However, racial insensitivity should never be tolerated.
One comment that should be overlooked is McGregor’s jab at Mayweather for the difficulty he has reading. Yes it’s true that part of institutional racism is making sure that blacks remain illiterate in order to never arise from their situation, which is not why McGregor threw the insult. Mayweather has legitimate issues with reading.
Notorious tried to address these issues at New York but he only worsened the issue by using a stereotypical joke and alluding to conjugating with black women. Admitting that you find black women attractive does not make you a racist.
Nevertheless, Mayweather also crossed some flags by disrespecting the Irish flag. Had McGregor disrespected the Stars & Stripes the backlash would not cease. In the end, both fighters crossed the line.
The presser will now head to London where it’s the audience is expected to come out fully in favor of the Irishman.
