Yep, I forgot the result, my bad. And McGregor packed on weight after weigh in. Regardless, this exhibition, Floyd wasn't trying hard.
I saw it was like $49 for the PPV in the US and $16 if you used a vpn and get it from Sky Sports in England and I still thought getting a crappy pirated stream was the best deal,lol.
I don't know, this gimmick goes at least back to Lyle Alzado fighting Muhammad Ali--and Ali basically took it easy on Alzado. Celebrity fights real boxer is just a payday for both guys, the boxer has no real incentive to massacre the celebrity.
Wow I haven't heard Lyle's name in a bit. For the Paul's I think the situation is a bit different since they are already minted. They're both taking on bigger and badder opponents. Ultimately a fight with Mike Tyson is probably on their radar. Woodley laying out Jake might send them back in the direction of fighting other celebrities and not testing pros. I dunno.
Is Mike Tyson that bad a dude in the ring anymore? My recollection of his exhibition match with Roy Jones Jr. is that neither guy went hard and they cruised into an easy draw. My feeling is that boxers laying out celebrities would kill a golden goose--taking away future chances at easy money.
Tyson is going to be 55-years old at least by the time it happens, supposing it does. He's got nothing left in the tank but has old man strength. And as you said he has no incentive to give 100% or even try to win. It's just a massive payday for everyone involved. I think the idea behind the Woodley fight is that Woodley is a good gatekeeper for casual/boxing fans. He looks like a Clubber Lang. Paul looking good against a famously hard hitting MMA fighter sets him up for a huge PPV with Tyson. Woodley has never been paid like this before and might be happy to clinch and run out the clock. The smart marketing involved is having Paul fight his teammate Ben Askren first. Now they have a story-line with Woodley where he's defending his teammate and the honour of MMA. He probably isn't, he's probably happy to cash out with as little effort as possible, but maybe not? Maybe he's got a point to make. Woodley's only chance at a rematch (second payday) might be knocking Paul out. Otherwise he'll be cast aside.
Now people are saying there was a moment in the fight at the end of a round where Mayweather actually knocked out Paul and propped him up to keep the fight going.
