Why Floyd Mayweather wore a No. 48 hat ahead of his 50th fight
Both Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather made statements with their attire in the first leg of their media tour Tuesday to promote their Aug. 26 fight.
One of them was just a bit more sentimental with his message.
While McGregor opted for the blatant ‘F— you’ pinstripes on his three-piece suit, Mayweather went with an American flag TMT track suit with a hat that simply read “48” in red, white and blue.
So, what was the significance of the number 48? It’s pretty well known that Mayweather is 49-0 and going for his 50th win against McGregor, after all.
Was Mayweather just trying to show love for the original 48 states and say to hell with Alaska and Hawaii?
No.
As it turns out, the “48” is a reference to Mayweather’s heavily hyped and much-maligned matchup with Manny Pacquiao on May 2, 2015.
“Number 48 was the biggest fight in boxing history,” Mayweather told Yahoo Sports as he pointed to his hat Tuesday. “This was iconic. You know, this was a $300 million fight for me. And, of course, one of my favorite shows was ‘The First 48.’ ”
The mistakes made in the five-year-plus buildup to that fight are well documented so we won’t waste time rehashing that here. Nor will we delve too much into the fight itself, except to say it underwhelmed pretty well everybody that watched it and led to a slew of lawsuits after it was revealed that Pacquiao fought with a bum shoulder.
But Mayweather was happy with the payday he got from it and that’s all ancient history.
He is now focused on No. 50, and that means a win over McGregor – a win that would push him past Rocky Marciano’s hallowed record and into an echelon all his own, at least on paper. It would also presumably mean some fresh merchandise.
“I’m thinking, [Mayweather-McGregor] is on a pace right now of breaking the Mayweather-Pacquiao [revenue records],” McGregor said. “So we have to keep the 48 [hat] over here, and put the 50 [hat] over here, and put the line right down the middle.”
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• Mayweather needs McGregor fight cash to pay IRS
• MLB All-Stars have their own juiced-ball theories
