WASHINGTON • For boxing fans who have been anticipating the much-discussed boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Conor McGregor, the date is tentatively set for Aug 26.

According to ESPN's boxing correspondent Dan Rafael, Mayweather's camp is going to send that date to the Nevada State Athletic Commission for approval.

The commission originally was scheduled to take up the request yesterday, but that item has been removed from the agenda. This is probably because there has yet to be an official deal between Mayweather Promotions and Showtime, which would air the pay-per-view welterweight bout.

The date request would be a mere formality whenever the deal is struck. The fight would take place at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Last month, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight champion McGregor announced that he had signed a "record breaking deal" to fight Mayweather in a boxing match after nearly two years of talk about it.

Mayweather has not stepped into the ring since September 2015, when he beat Andre Berto to retain his world welterweight title.

The sheer novelty of the proposed bout - with a UFC champion who has never trained strictly as a boxer going up against an undefeated legend of the ring - could push the prize money into absurd territory.

UFC president Dana White speculated that Mayweather could get at least US$100 million (S$137 million) from the fight and McGregor US$75 million.

Rafael also reported that Mayweather and McGregor originally wanted the fight to take place on Sept 16.

However, Golden Boy Promotions and K2 Promotions will hold the middleweight title bout between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin on that date, also at T-Mobile Arena.

As part of that deal with MGM Resorts International, the parent company of T-Mobile Arena, any Mayweather-McGregor fight could not take place within three weeks of Alvarez-Golovkin.

WASHINGTON POST