Sequel madness

The Blob is not generally one for pointing fingers ("Ha! Good one," you're saying), but right now it's pointing fingers. Someone's gotta be responsible for this, right?

And by "this," I mean, this.

Oh, goody! Aging prizefighter battles mostly a wrestler! That's never been done before!

OK, so it has, and it was Muhammad Ali, and it was one of greatest exhibitions of the pugilistic arts ever seen. OK, so it wasn't.

Actually it was pretty much a joke, Ali vs. Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki. The year was 1976. The "fight" ended in a draw. Somebody made a bunch of money off it, presumably Ali and Inoki, although probably not.

You can find the "fight" on YouTube if you care to look, though why you would want to is a question best left unexamined. The point is, there was no point to Ali-Inoki. The further point is, there doesn't seem to be one for Floyd Mayweather-Khabib Nurmagomadev, either, except to make more somebodies a bunch of money.

That happened the first time the aging Mayweather fought  an MMA guy, that guy being the endlessly self-promoting Conor McGregor. The fight went 10 rounds but, as most people predicted, was never in doubt. Mayweather the boxer outboxed McGregor the MMA guy, and what a shock that wasn't.

Khabib having just dispensed with McGregor in an MMA bout, and being no fool, immediately began pounding the drums for his own crack at Mayweather. There being the aforementioned bunch of money involved, Mayweather is of course amenable. That the outcome would be even more a foregone conclusion seems a foregone conclusion, not to say entirely beside the point.

Here's the thing: McGregor's strength as an MMA guy is striking, so at least he carried semi-boxing skills into the ring against Mayweather. Khabib's strength is wrestling; he gets you on the ground, as he did McGregor, you're pretty much done. But that wouldn't be an option in a boxing match against Mayweather.

On the other hand ...

On the other hand, Khabib did become the first man to knock McGregor down. And Mayweather couldn't knock McGregor down. Upon such fragile underpinnings do circus tents go up and fast-buck artists find gainful employment.

Still, the Blob is pointing fingers. Who asked for this?

Was it you? You? You there, skulking around in the back?

Wait You mean it was all of you?

Yeesh.