By Keith Idec
If the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor fight finally gets made, Paulie Malignaggi hopes Barclays Center has a legitimate shot to host it.
The Brooklyn native has watched his hometown arena become one of the United States’ most viable venues for boxing since it staged its first card in October 2012 and thinks it would be a perfect setting for Mayweather-McGregor. The proposed bout between the superstar who retired as the best boxer, pound-for-pound, in the world and arguably mixed martial arts’ top active fighter has drawn understandable criticism because it appears to be a complete mismatch.
It’s indisputable, though, that it would make an enormous sum of money and would draw major mainstream attention from fans and media.
“I think New York is a great place for any major fight,” Malignaggi told BoxingScene.com. “The shame of Floyd Mayweather’s career, if you wanna call it that, is he’s gonna be the only all-time great of [an] era to have never fought in New York. Ray Leonard fought in New York. Ali fought in New York. All of the greats of the past fought in New York. You’d love to see Mayweather fight in New York one time and give the fans a treat just one time, and let him see what kind of atmosphere we bring. Barclays Center has been building to a moment like this, where this would just bring it to a crescendo.”
The 36-year-old Malignaggi (36-8, 7 KOs), a two-division world champion who retired earlier this year, fought five times at Barclays Center.
“For five years, Barclays Center has had some of the biggest fights in boxing, some of the biggest fights on the East Coast,” said Malignaggi, an analyst for Showtime’s boxing broadcasts. “They’ve really built this into something. So I think they’ve earned the right to try to stage [Mayweather-McGregor]. And I think the fans, themselves, have really come and supported boxing full-blast in these five years. The product is growing at Barclays Center, they’re selling more tickets at Barclays Center. … For Mayweather to come to New York, against McGregor in the biggest fight you could make right now in the world, I think it’s almost a no-brainer from an entertainment perspective.”
Barclays Center obviously would encounter stiff competition to land the fight from MGM Resorts International, which owns and operates numerous properties on the Las Vegas strip, and other venues. Each of Mayweather’s last 12 fights took place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, where UFC, McGregor’s promoter, also has staged numerous high-profile events over the years.
MGM Resorts International also is the co-owner of T-Mobile Arena, which opened last year in Las Vegas.
State income taxes also could prohibit bringing an event that’ll generate that type of income to New York. Nevada is one of seven states in the U.S. that doesn’t require workers to pay state income tax, which would save the fighters a lot of money from purses that figure to exceed nine figures (Mayweather) and eight figures (McGregor).
Nevertheless, Barclays Center has built its boxing brand to the point that it can be considered a legitimate option. The arena, also the home to the NBA’s Nets and NHL’s Islanders, already has been the site of three boxing cards in 2017, including the Keith Thurman-Danny Garcia welterweight championship unification fight March 4.
“Barclays Center is in the big event business, and I’m not sure there’s a bigger event in boxing or MMA than a Mayweather versus McGregor fight,” said Brett Yormark, CEO of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, which operates Barclays Center. “Mayweather has called Barclays Center home on many occasions [fights his company promoted, basketball games], and we would love his first fight in New York to be at our venue. We will be very aggressive in trying to make this happen.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.