While they had their moments, the press conferences set up as part of the Mayweather vs McGregor world tour have largely been more problematic than promotional.
After trips to Los Angeles, Toronto, New York, and London, it's not only the format of each event has been heavily criticised - as the vast majority of each live show was a total waste of time - but also the actions and words of both fighters.
McGregor said some regrettable things, to the point where his father defended him against allegations of racism on The MMA Hour this week, but Floyd too upset a lot of people in his desire to insult his opponent.
Mayweather's use of the word 'faggot' towards the Irishman rightly saw a backlash as soon as it was uttered, but speaking to TMZ this week, a representative from Mayweather's team has issued a statement to TMZ [via BJPenn.com] where he defended his use of the slur by claiming it was a direct response McGregor supposedly labelling Floyd a monkey.
The reason Floyd called Conor the F word is because Conor called Floyd a monkey. Floyd has nothing against gays or lesbians at all… Floyd has them on his staff. Floyd has nothing but the utmost respect for gays and lesbians.
He called black people monkeys. Then he spoke disrespectfully to my mother and my daughter. There are certain levels you don’t stoop to and certain levels you just don’t go to.
That really is not good enough, and for an official statement on behalf of a professional athlete it is a ridiculous thing to come out with.
There are indeed certain levels you don't stoop to, fair enough, but is the answer to stoop just as low in response? To find a way to get back and act like it's OK because something you didn't like was said first?
Also, Floyd Mayweather employing people of a homosexual orientation is a completely irrelevant thing to bring up. Did he ask any of those staff members how they felt about it? We seriously doubt it. He still used a derogatory term as an insult, how is that having the 'utmost respect for gays and lesbians'?
Lastly, McGregor did not directly call Mayweather a monkey as was implied. He made an ill-advised comment that was interpreted by some as racially charged, but was also seen directly calling white members of Mayweather's entourage monkeys. He certainly did not claim that black people are monkeys, which is what he was directly accused of.
It's a baffling thing to defend in a public statement. The sooner these two actually fight the better.
