For the next few weeks all of the chatter in the combat sports world will be focused on the upcoming boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and UFC champion Conor McGregor.
The mega-fight brings together the two biggest draws between boxing and mixed martial arts in a match-up that could break records on pay-per-view and attendance.
While the total payouts won’t be determined until after the fight, McGregor could pull in north of $100 million for the bout with Mayweather, which would be far and away the most money he’s earned during his career.
Former boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi, who recently joined McGregor’s training camp, believes that the Irishman may stay in boxing after the Mayweather bout is finished because the money he’ll earn will always be better than what he makes in the UFC.
“He’ll probably box again,” Malignaggi told the Jim Rome show. “I was thinking the same thing, you can make more money in boxing. We have the Ali Act that we’re protected by that, at least, it’s not going to prevent you from being screwed 100-percent, but it prevents you from being screwed the way they screw fighters in mixed martial arts.
“So I think there’s a possibility that Conor may box again, realizing he can make more money this way, and realizing he can keep a bigger chunk of the percentage of the money that he brings in as opposed to having to share most of it with everybody else. I don’t think it’s a far fetched conclusion that Conor boxes again, but I think for now the focus on one fight and one person and that should be the Mayweather fight.”
The Muhammad Ali Act has been a major topic of discussion amongst numerous fighters from around MMA, as Congress has started the earliest steps to introduce legislature to extend the law to mixed martial arts as well as boxing.
The Ali Act contains several provisions after being passed into Federal law back in 2000, including financial disclosures between promoter and athlete so fighters are aware of how much or how little they are being paid for an event. The act also contains stipulations about rankings as well as limiting the amount of time a promoter can hold a fighter under contract.
The addition of the Ali Act hasn’t stopped some of the corrupt practices in boxing with several critics pointing out that the law hasn’t been enforced all that much either.
Still, Malignaggi is clearly taking a shot at the way mixed martial artists are paid based on the current system in place in boxing where fighters at the top routinely make a much bigger share of the profits.
