For McGregor-Mayweather, important decisions on gloves and officials to come at next NSAC meeting

Next week’s meeting of the Nevada Athletic Commission is shaping up to be a very important one for Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather. That’s because there’s much that’s still to be decided about how their boxing match will proceed, and with the commission’s final meeting of the month set for 10 days prior to the bout – on Aug. 16 – some potentially divisive calls await.

Among the decisions yet to be made is what sort of gloves the fighters will wear.

Mayweather took to social media recently to request eight-ounce gloves for the bout, as opposed to the 10-ounce gloves that the Nevada commission typically mandates for any bout heavier than 147 pounds. His reasoning was simple, Mayweather (via Instagram):

Don't believe what you hear in the media. Don't believe what you hear on blog sites. If it's not coming directly from me, then it's not true. I'm telling McGregor, "Let's fight in 8 oz gloves". McGregor can fight in any brand he prefers or chooses. I'll be wearing 8 oz Grant gloves. Whatever advantage McGregor needs to feel more comfortable in the ring, I'm willing to accommodate. Let's give the boxing and MMA fans what they want to see. @grantworldwide @mayweatherpromotions

A post shared by Floyd Mayweather (@floydmayweather) on Aug 1, 2017 at 3:39pm PDT

“Whatever advantage McGregor needs to feel more comfortable in the ring, I’m willing to accommodate,” Mayweather wrote. “Let’s give the boxing and MMA fans what they want to see.”

But according to Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) Executive Director Bob Bennett, that would require special permission from the commission, which the commission would likely give only if a compelling case could be made for the change in protocol.

The fighters and their representatives will have the opportunity to make that case at next week’s commission meeting, Bennett today told MMAjunkie in an email.

“We will have one hearing on the gloves,” Bennett wrote, with a decision to follow at the same meeting. The commission will also be selecting officials for the bout at the same meeting, and that decision could get contentious as well.

According to Sky Sports, McGregor has requested that an “international” judge be added to the list of ringside officials, apparently out of concern that a panel of exclusively American judges might be biased against him.

McGregor’s team has also expressed reservations about who the commission might choose as the referee for the bout, with officials like boxing referee Kenny Bayless getting an early thumbs down from McGregor’s longtime coach, John Kavanagh.

“I think we’re going to have a hard time finding a fair referee and a fair set of judges,” Kavanagh said in an interview with ESPN.com last month. “It will be very difficult for a 50- to 60-year-old boxing referee to not go into this bout a little bit biased.”

The NSAC will consider all those arguments at the Aug. 16 meeting, Bennett said, and a final decision on officials will be made at that time. It may prove to be an important one, especially with McGregor competing in his first professional boxing match – and against a legendary fighter who’s been accused by former opponents of stretching the boundaries of the rules.

A hint as to McGregor’s strategy may have come from Kavanagh, who suggested that a referee with experience working MMA bouts be selected, on the grounds that such a person “will understand the inside fighting that will go into this fight.”

Anyone wishing to make their case for or against specific referees and officials had better hone those arguments now. After the NSAC meeting, the cast of pertinent characters will officially be set.

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