The process it took to get there may not have been what fight fans expected, but the outcome was ultimately predictable: Floyd Mayweather outclassed Conor McGregor to bring his record to 50-0. The public poured in money on McGregor, leaving Vegas exposed to one of their biggest potential losses ever, but turns out the undefeated all-time great was not going to be undone by an amateur.
You know who could have predicted this? Floyd Mayweather. Though he was respectful to McGregor throughout the pre-fight process, Mayweather made it abundantly clear how confident he was in his abilities, promising to lay major bets down on himself at any casinos that would take the action. But according to Mayweather himself, he ran into some trouble when he tried to place a sizable bet on himself to win by knockout.
"They didn't let me bet $400,000. Earlier today, I went to go bet $400,000 and they didn't let me bet at a casino that I went to, because they said I was the promoter," said Mayweather after the fight. "They thought the fight was going to be set up. I'm not going to set up a fight for $400,000 when I'm making over $300 million."
The logic definitely tracks here, and you would think a fighter betting on himself would not be a huge issue. Then again, to counter Mayweather's point, if you're making $300 million or more on the fight, why bother placing a $400,000 bet on yourself? Feeling confident in your abilities is one thing, but at a certain point, isn't that money enough that you don't need to throw some extra bets on top of that?
And for those of you concerned about Mayweather's Constitutionally-protected right to gamble (citation needed), the good news is he claims to have found a way to place a bet anyway. "I gave my friend $400,000 to go bet, they would only let him bet $87,000." Don't you wish you had the spare cash to bet only 87K?
After promising the fight against McGregor was definitely his last, Mayweather will have plenty of time to place any bets he wants for the rest of his life—or at least until the next big money opportunity becomes available in the ring. If the IRS continues beating down his door about unpaid taxes, who knows, you might see him jump back in and collect another fortune for a half hour's worth of work.
If that ends up happening, here's some advice for Vegas sportsbooks: just let the man place his bet on himself. If all he's doing is using a little money to express confidence in himself, so take the action, since we know plenty of other people will always bet on him to fail.
