- December 14, 2025
I wasn’t going to pay $100 to watch a boxing match, so I decided to go to House for Beer at the Pavilion in Port Orange to watch it instead.
The bar had a good deal going. $30 for general admission and $50 for an additional all-you-can-drink bracelet. I got there at around 9:30 and was able to find a comfortable bar stool. I awaited the action.
Before the fight actually started at around midnight, a drunk guy got kicked out for cursing too much and causing a ruckus. He then tried to fight the general manager outside as he was leaving. Tragic, but the real fight was upcoming. And it was everything I expected.
Going in, I thought undefeated (now 50-0) welterweight boxer Floyd Mayweather’s self-promoted match with UFC champion Conor McGregor was just a spectacle, and that’s what it turned out to be.
The fight began with three rounds of what was essentially sandbagging by Mayweather. If you know anything about his style of fighting, it’s predicated on defense and the mind game. Mayweather uses the 12-round duration of the fight to his advantage, allowing his opponent to feel as though he’s winning while expending excessive energy when really he’s in complete control.
This was McGregor’s first professional boxing match, but it didn’t seem like it. The Irishman has obvious skills as a fighter and the southpaw’s right-handed jab was able to land consistent shots early on. He’s not known as the Notorious MMA for nothing.
But as McGregor began to fatigue at around the 7th round mark, Mayweather turned up the heat. Not usually a fighter who likes to finish things before the final bell, he was able to register a 10th round TKO on McGregor as the referee stopped the fight. McGregor was still standing, but the official did him a favor. He was going nowhere, and the only thing he had left to do was hit the floor.
House for Beer paid $3,000 to broadcast the event on each of its TV screens. It was a good investment for the bar as they made a profit.
And speaking of profit, both Mayweather and McGregor lined their pockets nicely due to the fight. Mayweather will earn roughly $300 million for the victory and will accrue the majority percentage of the pay-per-view buys, but don’t feel bad for McGregor. He made $30 million just for showing up and will take home a portion of the money from the pay-per-view buys as well.
That’s why this fight was nothing more than a spectacle. It wasn’t to see which guy was going to win, because conventional wisdom says that an undefeated, Hall of Fame boxer was going to be able to defeat a literal rookie of the sport.
Not to knock McGregor or anyone involved, because Mayweather’s plan worked: Get two polarizing personalities in a ring together and let the anticipation be greater than the payoff.
There was nonstop trash talk beforehand by McGregor as he called Mayweather a monkey, a boy and the N-word during several pre-match weigh-ins. Mayweather was also trying to get the media to believe that due to McGregor’s youth, 29 to Mayweather’s 41, he had more of an advantage.
It was just to hype it up, and I think that’s all boxing is anymore. In life, the journey is better than the destination. There’s nothing wrong with that at all, but for people who expected a real fight between two champions, you didn’t get one.
The fight may have been long enough to warrant the money, but to me, it seemed like Mayweather was intentionally milking it to last longer.
The winner of this fight received the Money Belt, which I find appropriate. Money is what these men cared about on Saturday, and for them, that’s the ultimate motivation above all else.
