Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor, the two biggest attractions in combat sports, will meet in a 12-round boxing match Aug. 26 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
To promote the fight, the two are doing a four-day, four-city, three-country tour, which began Tuesday at Staples Center in Los Angeles and continued in Toronto on Wednesday,
Mayweather and McGregor each had their moments during the LA presser as they got their digs in at each other but the person known as "Money" edged out the UFC lightweight champion in the verbal warfare.
The second stop took place Wednesday from the Budweiser Stage in Toronto. The tour then moves to Brooklyn on Thursday and London on Friday.
What was the outcome in the great white north? Since he is now accustomed to the boxing style press conferences, did McGregor bounce back?
Here was SN's live coverage of the second stop of the Mayweather vs. McGregor world tour (all times Eastern).
7:50: Malignaggi brings up a great point saying Ali came back and lost. Mayweather said he isn't too sure. Admits he doesn't miss the sport and the crowd reaction for McGregor doesn't bother him.
7:49: Mayweather building up McGregor pretty good here saying the latter has the reach advantage, hasn't fought in two years and he's younger. "Everything is leaning towards Conor McGregor."
7:48: Mayweather feels the fight will be a chess match. He says if it doesn't go that way, he expects it to be guns blazing from the outset. Would be very surprised if Mayweather does it considering the styles he's adopted over the last 15 years.
7:43: Mayweather admits McGregor has brought out the "old" Mayweather in terms of trash talk. He credits Malignaggi for what he's done for the sport and happy he's helping out McGregor for the fight and is a fan of Schaub's face. Highly doubt he's heard Schaub's work.
7:41: Mayweather joining the Showtime crew. He thanks the MMA and UFC fans who are supporting the fight. "I have to take my hat off to the MMA fans for supporting this event."
7:39: A heated staredown between Mayweather and McGregor. It lasted around 90 seconds before they were separated. Much better day today for McGregor with Mayweather not far behind.
7:33: Mayweather tells White they are the real guys who have money.
7:30: Mayweather just grabbed the Irish flag from a fan and drapes it over himself. McGregor proceeds to grab Mayweather's book bag and pulls what was in there, one brick estimated to be at $5,000. McGregor chided, "That's it?!? There's about 5,000 in here?" Mayweather gives McGregor the flag and threw it back in Mayweather's face.
7:28: Mayweather goes up to White and praises him for what he's done with the UFC.
7:24: Mayweather tells McGregor the fans can't win him the fight. He brings out a book bag and challenges McGregor to bet his entire purse. McGregor said no problem. Mayweather tells McGregor he's a b— because he has a boss and he doesn't.
7:23: Mayweather gets introduced by Ellerbe to a chorus of boos. He's drinking out of a cup, pacing back-and-forth past McGregor. Then Mayweather goes on to say his signature line, "Hard work, dedication."
7:19: McGregor thanks the fans for coming out. He bashes the boxing media who've said he stands no chance on Aug. 26. McGregor gets in Mayweather's face and tells him, "What are you doing carrying a book bag on stage? You can't even read."
7:18: McGregor mocking Mayweather for having 50 strippers on his payroll at his strip club in Las Vegas. "50 stripper b— on his payroll. What is he doing with that strip club?" He goes on to compare Rob Kardashian only having one stripper to Mayweather's 50.
7:14: McGregor walks up, grabs a mic and throws it down. An upset McGregor leads the crowd on two occasions to say, "F— the Mayweathers." Then, McGregor goes to Espinoza, gets in his face, says, "F— Showtime" and then yells at him for cutting his mic on Tuesday.
7:13: Here comes Dana White to a loud ovation. Interesting White is wearing a shirt saying, "Zuffa Boxing." White introduces McGregor with the roaring approval of the crowd.
7:12: The head of Showtime Sports, Stephen Espinoza is speaking about the significance of the fight, which draws loud boos from the crowd. It is hard to disagree as no one wants to hear Espinoza. The crowd wants to hear from Mayweather and McGregor. Give Espinoza credit for acknowledging the crowd who is chanting for the Irishman.
7:06: After about two minutes of intense trash talking, Dana White steps in between them and tries to pull them away. Mayweather and McGregor go right back at it nose-to-nose with Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe in between them. They finally separate with the loud Toronto crowd chanting "UFC". You can cut the tension with a knife.
7:01: Here comes Mayweather through his entourage onto the stage, dancing and clapping hands. Mayweather is wearing his "Money Team" gear while McGregor is sporting a custom suit. Mayweather approaches McGregor on stage and both pointing their fingers at each other. They are in each other's face talking tons of trash with the crowd going wild chanting for McGregor.
6:57: Here comes McGregor to a thunderous ovation. Amazing to watch him go through a sea of humanity. McGregor looks more confident and sure of himself as he blows a kiss to the crowd.
6:52: Hip-hop artist Drake comes out to a large ovation. The artist who is a huge UFC fan welcomes both fighters to Toronto and is happy to be at the event.
6:50: Co-host Ray Flores tells the crowd Mayweather and McGregor will be out in five minutes. He's doing a fan reaction on who will win. The crowd overwhelmingly went for McGregor.
6:46: A performance is being done by someone I have never heard of. Such a waste of time. People don't want to see a musical performance. They are there to see Mayweather and McGregor.
6:43: No word on when the presser will start. Give Custer, Schaub and Malignaggi a lot of credit here for having enough topics to break down while stalling for time. Not many broadcast teams would go off-topic.
6:27: Round 11 is being shown between the failure known as Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao. Don't know why this round got selected. The most action-packed round of the fight was the fourth where both of them were actually throwing and landed the hardest shots of the fight.
6:23: Great breakdown's by Malignaggi and Schaub on Mayweather and McGregor's weight and the latter's lightweight title over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 back in November. Explaining how Mayweather has only fought two times at 154 pounds. Schaub and Maglianaggi make a very good analysis on how the 10 oz. gloves don't matter for McGregor due to wraps the fighters wear and how MMA fighters use 10 or 16 oz. gloves in training.
6:13: Showtime airs the final round of Mayweather's fight against Oscar De La Hoya in May 2007, in which he won by split decision. At the time, it generated the biggest buyrate in pay-per-view history at 2.4 million.
6:00: The Showtime Boxing crew of Brian Custer, Brendan Schaub and Paulie Malignaggi announce due to the overflow of the crowd still trying get in, the presser will be starting shortly.
Steven Muehlhausen is an MMA and boxing writer and contributor for Sporting News. You can listen to his podcast, "The Fight Junkies" here. You can email him at [email protected] and can find him on Twitter @SMuehlhausenMMA.
