Veteran HBO boxing commentator Jim Lampley is heading deep into conspiracy theory territory with his hot take on what was really going on during the boxing superfight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor.
Speaking to TMZ, the 68-year-old Lampley brushed aside McGregor’s early success in the fight by suggesting that this was all part of a cunning plan Mayweather had come up with to set-up a future rematch between the two.
“Why should [Mayweather] retire?” Lampley questioned during the interview. “He created a marvelous scam with this whole thing.
“He allowed Conor to quote ‘win’ three rounds so that the whole global MMA wish community could have something to latch on to. I think there’s a decent chance there’s enough suckers out there Floyd could maybe make another $150 million. Why not? It’s all a set up.”
Mayweather recently posted up a video of him back in the gym working out, which has only added to Lampley’s suspicion that it’s only a matter of time before there’s a rematch between the two superstars.
“Are we having a bet on whether or not Floyd Mayweather wants to make another $150 million? It’s not a bet,” Lampley said. “Why else is he putting out videos of himself working out? Why else did he allow Conor McGregor to ‘win’ three rounds? Why did the whole thing last 10 rounds? It’s all a set up.”
It’s not out of the realms of possibility that a rematch could take place, given that McGregor himself has stated his interest in doing so during a recent Q&A session in Glasgow.
At the same time, it seems that Lampley would rather cling on to a somewhat far-fetched theory rather than just accept that the UFC champion won a few early rounds against the boxing great.
It’s much easier to accept Mayweather’s version of events, which is that he was just sticking to his pre-fight strategy of letting McGregor tire himself out in the early rounds so that he could then finish him off later in the bout.
As it turned out that tactic worked out perfectly as McGregor did visibly fade after a strong opening three rounds (as he did in the second round against Nate Diaz at UFC 196 in 2016) and was a sitting duck by the fifth round onwards.
Also, Lampley suggests that Mayweather purposefully went 10 rounds, but if you listen carefully to the boxer’s comments since the fight, he’s actually mentioned that the gameplan from his father had been to stop him a few rounds earlier, but it ended up taking a little longer than expected to put him away.
