The highly anticipated bout between undefeated American boxing champion Floyd Mayweather and his Irish combatant Conor McGregor may be the most expensive in history but doctors are worried about the health risk surrounding one boxer.
Mayweather is set to walk away with US$100m as opposed to US$70m for McGregor.
However as association of ringside doctors have raised the flag about the potential risk that McGregor faces given the fact that he lacks experience in professional boxing.
The Association of Ringside Physicians, according to The New York Times, that the fight puts McGregor’s health in danger.
“We were very surprised this bout was even sanctioned and was going to be permitted to carry on,” Larry Lovelace, the President of the organization is quoted as having said: “The thing I really fear, truly fear, is that somebody’s going to get really hurt in this upcoming fight.”
McGregor has a wealth of mixed martial arts experience but doctors say he is yet to compete with a professional boxer in a sanctioned fight.
The concern seems to emanate from a similar precedent that ended in the death of martial arts fighter versus a professional boxer.
In June, 34-year-old former Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Tim Hague suffered fatal injuries against Adam Braidwood in a boxing match that took place in Edmonton, Alberta.
It was his fourth boxing match, but Hague was severely outclassed by Braidwood, who ended the fight with a one-punch knockout in the second round. Hague was hospitalized after the fight and died two days later in an Edmonton hospital.
