Gloves off in tornado of trash talk

F-bombs fly as Mayweather and McGregor whip up pre-fight hype

NEW YORK - Floyd Mayweather Jr. tossed $1 bills in Conor McGregor's face. McGregor waved Jay-Z's new CD in Mayweather's direction and quoted a Biggie Smalls lyric as some sort of warning shot.

The rest?

The fashionably late fighters treated fans that waited hours for the New York stop in their promotional tour to about 30 minutes of profanities, crude cracks about body parts and a steady stream of more f-bombs.

If Mayweather and McGregor turned their latest showdown into a true PPV - pay-per-vulgarity - they'd collect a few million bucks before they even hit the ring for their Aug 26 fight.

All this commotion - beat-boxer and rapper Doug E. Fresh warmed up the crowd of 13,165 - for a media conference.

"If it even is a press conference," McGregor cracked. "It's a bit of a roasting."

McGregor, who turns 29 on Friday, was the picture of cool as he walked the red carpet inside Brooklyn's Barclays Center. The UFC star wore floral pants, sunglasses and ditched a shirt for a "polar bear" coat he had bought earlier in a Fifth Avenue shopping spree.

He could afford the outlandish outfit. McGregor and Mayweather will earn perhaps nine-figure paydays while fight fans will be charged $100 to watch on TV in high definition and can't get into the arena for anything less than a $500 facevalue ticket-if they're lucky.

But in New York, where a "Hamilton" seat can cost you a rent check, there's still a deal to be found - even in the fight game.

The fight angling to become the richest in sports history is offering fans a bargain-basement price for this weeklong trash-talking circus: Free.

It's the cleanest four-letter word uttered by Irish mixed-martials-arts sensation McGregor and undefeated American boxer Mayweather during the foul-mouthed promotional tour. They had previously made stops in Los Angeles and Toronto.

"When I wake up in the morning, I forget that I'm famous," the 40-year-old Mayweather said.

He got a reminder in Brooklyn.

Fans lined outside the home of the Brooklyn Nets hours before they were allowed inside the arena. They flocked in TMT (The Money Team) gear or draped themselves in Irish flags as they waited for the pair to start trading insults weeks before they exchange blows. Jon McFaul, 28 of South Jersey, ordered his ticket online not long after they were made available to the public. He and his friends showed up at noon for their shot at being among the first through the doors.

McFaul, a McGregor fan, said he'll watch the fight with friends to split the $99.95 bill for the high-definition payper-view.

"You're bringing the best of two worlds together," he said. "But I think the press conference is going to be better than the fight itself."

A limited number of tickets were still available at the box office about five hours before showtime, but security turned fans away 30 minutes later and told them there were no more available.

They could have turned to the web: eBay had tickets available for $50 for the Brooklyn tour stop and were going for about $80 for the final one in London.

"That's just dirty, selling press-conference tickets," UFC President Dana White said. "You can't sell tickets to a press conference."

The tour ends on Friday with its fourth stop in London - who knows, that may be more rounds than the actual fight, which many experts believe will be lopsided for Mayweather.

"Mike Tyson back in the day knocked out people in the first round," McFaul said. "I want to see the spectacle."

The hype could prove more entertaining than the 154-pound fight Aug 26 in Las Vegas. The fighters can entertain as much as anything on Broadway.

McGregor wore a white Gucci mink coat and raised a steel chair high over his head during a media conference at Madison Square Garden in November to promote his last UFC fight. And Mayweather has been living up to his "Pretty Boy" and "Money" nicknames as both fighters try to hype the fight.

McGregor encouraged the crowd to shout expletives at Mayweather and his family before launching into a nearly 10-minute profanity-laced tirade during a stop on Wednesday in Toronto.

Mayweather mocked McGregor for being less wealthy. Some fans accused McGregor of being racially insensitive when he yelled, "Dance for me, boy! Dance for me, son!" at his oppponent during an exchange.

If the insults aren't coordinated, mutual respect between the two would appear to have suffered a resounding KO.

"I don't think these guys necessarily hated each other before we started this thing," White said. "But by the time we leave London, they might not necessarily like each other very much."

Brianna Robeck, 16, of Manhattan, was among the 100 or so fans at the gate about five hours before the fighters took the stage in Brooklyn. She left the box office with one of the last remaining tickets. She's rooting for McGregor ("people undermine his skills") and was excited to fork over $100 to watch the bout at home.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch it," she said. "If it takes 100 bucks to pay it, why not?"

Associated Press

Conor McGregor (center) strikes a nonchalant pose while Floyd Mayweather Jr. walks away as dollar bills rain down on stage during a promotional event on Thursday at Barclays Center, New York, for the pair's forthcoming fight.Mike Stobe / Agence Francepresse