Two days too long. That might be the best way to sum up the four-day world tour promoting the Aug. 26 boxing pay-per-view match between Floyd Mayweather and UFC champion Conor McGregor.
The final stop took place in London on Friday, inside a three-sided boxing ring at SSE Arena Wembley and, in it's own way, provided a sampling of the tour's totality. McGregor (21-3 in MMA) seemed to find one final spark of humorous creativity while Mayweather (49-0, 26 KOs) repeated much of the same tired, profane and obnoxious behavior that ultimately stained the press tour's final days.
None of this will matter much or likely affect what happens in the ring when they finally square off in just over 40 days in Las Vegas. But it's fair to question how much the darker side of the international press tour -- which included previous stops in Los Angeles, Toronto and Brooklyn, New York -- turns out to be a negative in terms of the final PPV receipts.
The tour likely peaked after Round 2 in Toronto, with the rap battle meets celebrity roast format producing a number of crass yet hilarious memes and videos that instantly went viral on social media. But both fighters contributed to the lowest common denominator element of the verbal war, which likely wasn't helped by the tour using the same exact format at each stop.
Racism, misogyny and homophobia were just a number of categories in which the two fighters went too far. What it created were multiple cringe-worthy moments over the final two days that did nothing but place the entire fight and both participants into a sad and pathetic light.
Still, despite facing constant criticism as nothing more than a money grab and blatant circus, the fight still exits the promotional tour with the potential of setting new financial and PPV records. In fact, it's fair to argue that the negative aspects of the tour may only help sales considering both fighter's history of willingly playing the heel in order to market their fights.
At times, it looked as if both fighters were competing to see who could use more profanities over the four-day stretch. In fact, our CBS Sports video team kept an unofficial scorecard, with McGregor coming out on top, 90 to 61.
But if we're attempting to keep score over the four days as to who got the better of the witty insults and overall showmanship, it just might break down like this: Mayweather had the slight edge in Los Angeles (helped by McGregor's microphone mysteriously getting cut). The Irishman rallied huge to win Toronto. But in Brooklyn, both fighters stunk up the joint enough to insult everyone's intelligence inside the building.
The final day went to McGregor, on his 29th birthday no less, and included him slapping Mayweather on his bald head. "The Notorious" returned to the tailored suit look and was slightly more professional (although not by much) than his wild performance on Thursday in a mink coat and no shirt. Mayweather completed the tour dressed like he was ready for a night out on the town in a designer t-shirt and giant silver and gold chains around his neck.
The only thing different about the final stop in London was that the two fighters actually fielded questions from reporters during the press conference inside the arena. McGregor repeated his earlier prediction about how and when the fight will end.
"I do what I say I'm going to do by sleeping this man inside of four rounds, the same way I've silenced him every other time," McGregor said. "It's what motivates me. They all doubt me. They all laugh at everything. They all try to mock me. It's been happening my whole career. It motivates me to conquer the unconquerable. Anything is possible. We're all capable of doing anything."
The 40-year-old Mayweather, meanwhile, did his best to remove emotion from the situation and keep his salesman hat on his head. He made it a point to hammer home one more time just how dangerous of an opponent he is trying to sell that McGregor will be.
"In boxing, it's all about taking chances," Mayweather said. "In boxing, in contact sports period, it's about taking risks. If you're going to take risks, take them against the top guys."
Let's take a look at the five quotes during Friday's final stop that garnered the most attention (for better or worse).
1. McGregor looks back at how far he has come: "We are six weeks out from the biggest fight in sporting history and I'm 29 today. Four years ago, I fought in London at a place called the HMB Forum in front of about 500 people. Four years ago. Now here I am, six weeks out, about to quadruple my net worth with one half of a fight. I'm in shock every single time I wake up. Half of a fight, let's get that right. Sign me up. No one is going to kick, no one is going to elbow. And it's against this little brittle handed bitch."
2. Mayweather plays McGregor a lullaby: Upset at McGregor touching him and getting in his face earlier, Mayweather responded by sitting on the table in front of his opponent and putting his feet up. He then scooted over and got directly into McGregor's face.
"I ain't going to touch you until Aug. 26," Mayweather said. "I'd knock you the f--- out punk."
Mayweather then motioned for the in-house DJ to play McGregor a song, which included a chorus about tapping out. The song was a reference to McGregor's three defeats in MMA, which all have come by submission.
3. Conor has fun with Floyd's age: "May, you're 40, get that f---ing phone out of your hand like a f---ing kid. A 40-year old man, what the f---? He was wearing high heels yesterday. Check the face off picture from yesterday and check it from the day before. Proper f---ing high heels this bitch was wearing. You should have worn them on the first day you stupid, f---ing t---.
"He could have rode off into the sunset at 49-0. Instead, this is my first time in a boxing ring and in six weeks, I run boxing. How the f--- did they let me roll up in here? They got greedy, that's f---ing how."
4. McGregor continues his feud with Showtime executive: Still upset about getting his microphone cut during the first tour stop in Los Angeles, McGregor continued to blame Showtime Sports' vice president and general manager Stephen Espinoza and once again got into his face.
"What's up Espinoza, you little f---ing weasel. If there was ever a guy who looked like a weasel it's this f---ing guy. What are you going to do? You going to stand up and do something ?You sit down and shut your f---ing mouth."
5. Mayweather finally delivers punchline to White: After days of chumming up with White on stage and apologizing for his negative comments over the years, Mayweather finally came through with a joke after playing out the same tired lines for four days.
"Dana, you don't got to wear no suit. Dana, I ain't got to wear no suit," Mayweather said. "Me and you got the most money. Keep pimping this bitch. Twenty-one years ago, me and you had a game plan. We the smart ones when it's all said and done.
"Yeah, we are going to take these foreign fighters and we're going to use them. We some smart Americans and you out here running with a quitter. But I forgot -- you a pimp and he's your ho. I respect dana White. In fact, I love Dana White."
