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Floyd Mayweather Jnr v Conor McGregor superfight
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The WBC “Money Belt” is displayed during a news conference with undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather Jnr and UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. Photo: Reuters

Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor winner to get gloriously bling ‘Money Belt’ studded with 3,360 diamonds

World Boxing Council creates special prize for money-spinning Las Vegas fight as the fighters face off for the final time

Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor aren’t just fighting for money in the boxing spectacle of the summer.

The winner also gets “The Money Belt”.

The World Boxing Council has created a special prize for this weekend’s 154-pound showdown, which isn’t actually for any real WBC championship.

Instead, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman on Wednesday revealed the gloriously bling Money Belt, which is studded with 3,360 diamonds, 600 sapphires, 300 emeralds and one and a half kilograms of 24-karat gold on green Italian alligator leather.

Sulaiman grinningly showed off the Money Belt and Mayweather posed for photos with it after a news conference for Saturday’s show.

Floyd Mayweather Jnr (second left) and Conor McGregor (second right) will face off in Las Vegas on Sunday morning (Hong Kong time). Photo: AFP

In stark contrast to their lurid, trash-talking global press tour last month, a subdued McGregor and a stern-looking Mayweather spoke respectfully as they prepared for Saturday’s 12-round boxing contest at the T-Mobile Arena.

Mayweather, who bombarded McGregor with expletives and homophobic slurs during last month’s frenzied publicity blitz, did not swear once during Wednesday’s news conference.

McGregor, the massive underdog for this weekend’s bout, restricted himself to verbally abusing a heckler in the audience who predicted he would be knocked out.

McGregor faces his first ever professional boxing contest against Mayweather, the undefeated former welterweight king who has come out of a two-year retirement to take on the Irish mixed martial arts star.

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman holds up the WBC “Money Belt”. Photo: Reuters

However McGregor, the 29-year-old two-time UFC world champion from Dublin, insisted he was ready to stun the world of combat sports by upsetting Mayweather.

“Been to a lot of these crazy press conferences,” said McGregor. “This is a lot more subdued. More businesslike, the way I like it.

“We are prepared for 12 three-minute rounds of non-stop pace. We are prepared, I will put pressure on him and break this old man. Trust me on that.

“I don’t see him lasting two rounds. I feel I have the decision to end it inside one.”

Mayweather, 40, looked relaxed throughout, even taking time to quietly admonish members of his entourage who had shouted at McGregor.

And rather than the abuse of last month, Mayweather praised McGregor as a “helluva fighter, a stand-up guy and a tough competitor”.

Floyd Mayweather Jnr speaks during a news conference at the KA Theatre at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino. Photo: AFP

“It’s not going to be an easy fight,” Mayweather said. “It’s going to be blood sweat and tears. “He’s the best at what he do, I’m the best at what I do. It comes down to the two competitors going out there and displaying our skills.”

But Mayweather’s words came with a warning for McGregor.

“After 21 years I’ve been hit with everything and I’m still right here,” Mayweather said.

“And if you give it, you must be able to take it. There have been plenty of guys who talked a lot of trash, but when it’s all said and done, I came out victorious.

“I’ve said it’s not going the distance and you can mark my words.

“Anything and everything in boxing that can be done, I’ve done it. I was born a fighter, I will die a fighter.”

Conor McGregor is predicting a quick finish of Floyd Mayweather Jnr. Photo: AFP

McGregor is hoping his punching power can catch Mayweather out on Saturday. But the American veteran warned he had faced plenty of hard hitters before.

“Manny Pacquiao got bombs, Canelo [Alvarez] got bombs, Shane Mosley got bombs. But remember this – I got a great chin. And the same way you give it, you’ve got to be able to take it.”

McGregor meanwhile laughed off suggestions from his opponent earlier this week that he may struggle to make the 154-pound limit at Friday’s weigh-in.

“I’ve never missed weight in my life and it won’t be happening this time,” McGregor said. “I’ve had my nutritionist practically living with me throughout camp.”

UFC president Dana White (left) is in Las Vegas to help promote Conor McGregor’s fight. Photo: Reuters

The showdown between Mayweather and McGregor was confirmed in June after a protracted guessing game about whether the two fighters from different sports would ever meet.

Saturday’s bout could become the most lucrative fight in history according to Showtime Sports television executive Stephen Espinoza.

Mayweather could add another $200 million to his career earnings depending on pay-per-view sales while McGregor, who only four years ago was a struggling former plumber’s apprentice living on welfare, could collect $100 million.

This will be the most widely distributed pay per view in history,” Espinoza said.

“That’s not hyperbole, that’s fact. We are well on the way to a record-setting event.”

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Diamond-studded money belt to the winner
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