Showtime executive says McGregor vs. Mayweather will happen ‘early fall’ if everyone remains ‘reasonable’

While boxing legend Floyd Mayweather has yet to sign the dotted line, he’s bound to meet UFC superstar Conor McGregor, who has signed his side of the deal, inside of the ring sometime in the near future. A proposed date for Sept. 16 was taken over by an impending boxing superfight between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin, but that isn’t going to slow the planning for McGregor vs. Mayweather. According to Executive Vice President of Showtime Sports Stephen Espinoza, all parties are still aiming for a showdown sometime this fall.

“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,” said Espinoza during a recent interview with FightHype. “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.”

There aren’t too many fight fans out there who wouldn’t pay to see McGregor test his skills inside the ring opposite Mayweather, so locking down a future date is essential at this point in time. However, Espinoza seems to think that any date would work for such a ginormous clash of stars.

“I’m not sure it matters because we’re dealing with an event that’s massive,” said Espinoza when asked which date works best. “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.”

With so much money at stake, McGregor vs. Mayweather is something that needs to happen. Some combat enthusiasts will bicker and bark about the proposed superfight by pointing out the massive difference in skill sets, but even they are waiting for a date and time to be announced.