What If Floyd Mayweather Loses?

I understand that I am asking readers to consider a near-impossible scenario. The boxing skill gap between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather is so massive, the fight should be thought of similarly to Alabama playing an FCS school in Tuscaloosa. In the ring, McGregor is Floyd's worst opponent, by far. It is laughable to give this fight expert analysis outside of McGregor's "puncher's chance."

But. What if...

What if Floyd loses?

I am not including strategy and the course of the fight over however many rounds it lasts. Within the realm of boxing and sports, as well as sports entertainment, what does a McGregor victory—more importantly, a Mayweather loss—mean?

The answer has many tangents. The highly-covered build-up to the August 26th bout has included several explosive press conferences around the world. There have been stare-downs, cheers, jeers, scores of profanity, lowbrow insults and everything else one can implement from a WWE tutorial on how to sell a match. This is necessary because, once again, there is a low expectation of much in-excitement. Most believe Mayweather will easily dispose of McGregor.

What if he doesn't? Does that slam the door shut on the idea of boxing being able to resurrect its image and return to prominence? Someone as brilliant as Floyd, the best defensive fighter ever, losing to a man in his secondary sport could permanently shatter any remaining purity the sweet science may still have.

Can Conor McGregor kill boxing?

The short answer is no. The longer answer is also no. While there has yet to be someone as equally great and vilified in boxing since Floyd retired, the sport will always have talent. We recently witnessed two amazing brawls between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev, and those of us who love boxing anticipate Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin to captivate us, too. One principle remains true for all sports: no one man can stop the show.

Through microphone showmanship alone, Mayweather-McGregor will have a noted place in history, whether or not the actual fight is spectacular. However, we can certainly also muse over the idea of a boxing realm after a Mayweather loss. I can fantasize about pillars in the world of the squared circle crumbling as McGregor stands triumphant in the ring.

But none of this matters because Floyd will demolish McGregor.

Right?

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