Showtime Executive Says Goal Is For Mayweather vs. McGregor To Happen In The Fall

In an interview with FightHype (via MMA Fighting), Executive Vice President of Showtime Sports Stephen Espinoza said that the goal is to have the rumored fight between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather happen in the fall. Here are highlights:

On when they want the fight to happen: “I think the date really is a function of how long it takes to get a deal done because the reality is, it took a long time for the UFC and Conor to reach an agreement to allow Conor to participate. Now the real negotiations start which is the Floyd side versus the Conor-UFC side. If that drags on then you’re probably looking at late this year. If it really drags on then you’re looking at early next year. But if people are as motivated as they seem to be – I know how badly Floyd wants it – if we get this wrapped up pretty quickly we could be seeing it early fall. That’s the goal. That’s what we’ve heard from Floyd. Now it’s just getting in a room and seeing if people will be reasonable on the kind of deal that they’re looking for.”

On Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin taking a date meant for the superfight: “I’m not sure it matters because we’re dealing with an event that’s massive. The only comparison that people can really make is Mayweather-Pacquiao and you could have done that any day except Super Bowl sunday and it would’ve been massive. So I don’t think the date will make a difference commercially. The Mexican holiday has a been a date that Floyd really elevated but it’s not a date that Floyd needs to make [the fight] bigger. That fight will make the date not the date making the fight. There are some fights where putting them on those dates makes it bigger and adds to it; this one is gonna be huge no matter what date it’s on so really, it’s a function of what works for Floyd in the business negotiation and his preparation.”

On how successful it will be: “It’s tough to say that because even before Mayweather-Pacquiao my prediction was 3-3.5 million buys. I said after the fight that I wasn’t sure that we’d ever see some event in my lifetime to surpass it. Just because it was so big, I hesitate but at the same time, I have trouble thinking of a significant group of people who bought Mayweather-Pacquiao who would then say, ‘No, I’m not gonna buy Mayweather-McGregor,’ and since you are drawing from two distinct fan bases, it might give that record a run for the money.”