Boxing broadcaster Al Bernstein discusses Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor intrigue

In the pantheon of great boxing journalists, Al Bernstein is up there with the best of them.

He’s called so many big fights in a career now in its fourth decade and yet, he’s called nothing quite like what he’ll chronicle when Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor clash in a first-of-its kind cross-combat sports event.

“This is an intriguing … probably one of the most intriguing situations that I’ve ever been in in 35 years of broadcasting,” Bernstein, who will be ringside for Showtime Boxing, told MMAjunkie Radio. “Because this match is way different than anything obviously. Part of the intrigue of it to me is normally in boxing or MMA when promoters say, ‘Oh, we have a match. We’re pretty sure the public is going to be interested in this. Let’s put it out there and promote it.’ This fight kind of started the reverse.

“This fight started because people seem to want to see it. The fighters themselves stoked the flames. People stoked the flames. And whatever people think of this match and the veracity of it, at the of the day it’s happening because people seem to want to see it.”

McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) and Mayweather (49-0 boxing) face off on Aug. 26 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in a pay-per-view event expected to be the most lucrative prize fight of all time. The bout will be McGregor’s first as a professional boxer.

The fact that a 49-0 boxing legend is fighting an 0-0 boxing novice in a boxing match has garnered many critics who believe the event is nothing more than a money grab by everyone involved. That, Bernstein said, has presented a challenge in how he approaches preparation to call the fight.

He’s spent little time covering MMA but has done his homework on McGregor and talked “with many MMA experts (about) him and, of course, watched video.” Fight-hype madness aside, Bernstein is approaching the call like any other big boxing match.

“It will be different because of the nature of it,” Bernstein said, “but I don’t feel like we’ll be calling anything other than a boxing match, because that is what they’re doing.”

How does Bernstein feel about McGregor’s chances at pulling off the upset over Mayweather?

“At the end of the day this fight boils down to a couple of things,” Bernstein said. “(McGregor is) physically bigger and stronger. If he can find some way within the limits of the rules – and maybe just barely within the limits of the rules – to be that kind of a fighter (to rough up Mayweather) … can Conor McGregor find a way to use his physicality? It would be helpful.”

To hear more from Bernstein, check out the video above.

For more on “The Money Fight: Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor,” check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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