Race/Related: The Fight Card Often Features the Race Card

Racial themes have long been exploited in boxing to promote fights View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Saturday, August 26, 2017 [Join Race/Related »]( [Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, and Conor McGregor during a news conference on Wednesday in Las Vegas.] Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, and Conor McGregor during a news conference on Wednesday in Las Vegas. John Locher/Associated Press Boxing Plays the Race Card By [JOHN ELIGON]( It had been more than two decades since a white man had won the world heavyweight boxing title. The eccentric promoter Don King knew not only that, but that the United States was still a country with deep racial divisions. So when Gerry Cooney — a stout, white New Yorker with a punishing left hook — agreed in 1982 to face the reigning champion, Larry Holmes, who was black and from the Pennsylvania rust belt, King knew what he had to do. “If it’s an antagonistic fight between two blacks, it’s one thing,” King said in a recent interview. “But if it’s an antagonistic fight between a white and a black, then you can play the race card tremendously and get an overwhelming return.” Such deliberate racial themes, long a tradition in boxing, might not be laid out quite as starkly on Saturday night when the boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., who is black, and the mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor, who is white, square off in Las Vegas in a boxing match. But race has certainly influenced this spectacle of a bout between two titans of their respective sports in ways both stark and subtle. Both fighters have flung racially tinged barbs at each other — McGregor told Mayweather to “dance for me, boy” and said he himself was half black “from the bellybutton down”; Mayweather said he was fighting “for all the blacks around the world.” The racial animosity cuts deeper than a few comments. Mayweather had spent more than a decade embracing his status as the undisputed king of fight sports villainy: brash, derogatory and eager to flaunt his money, while trying to brush aside a record of domestic violence convictions. Then along came McGregor, a mixed martial artist from Ireland, who used a boldness that rivaled Mayweather’s to reach the peak of stardom in the fast-growing Ultimate Fighting Championship universe, in which fighters use their fists and feet and can wrestle opponents down. Even though the two men competed in different sports, they became fast rivals. Now, as they prepare to fight, McGregor is claiming most of the fan support, while Mayweather is asking a pointed question: Is there a racial double standard? “He’s arrogant, he’s cocky, he’s this, he’s that, he’s unappreciative,” Mayweather told reporters of how his antics have been received, while McGregor has exhibited similar behavior “and they praise him for it.” To some, the very fact that McGregor has an opportunity to make nine figures in his first professional boxing match speaks to a racial double standard. Mayweather, 40, has compiled a 49-0 record since his professional debut in 1996. Although McGregor, 29, has proved to be a devastating striker en route to a 21-3 mark in mixed martial arts, this will be his first professional boxing match. Holmes, the defending champion and the victor in the 1982 fight, drew a comparison to the $10 million purses that he and Cooney — each undefeated entering their bout — received when they met in the ring. “If it wasn’t for the white guy that I was fighting, we wouldn’t have gotten $10 million,” Holmes said. “If I would have fought five brothers, we wouldn’t have got that much money.” [[READ MORE]( [Native Americans are challenging their invisibility in society in a short film that is part of Op-Docs, our Emmy-award-winning and Oscar-nominated short documentary series.]( Native Americans are challenging their invisibility in society in a short film that is part of Op-Docs, our Emmy-award-winning and Oscar-nominated short documentary series. Michèle Stephenson and Brian Young [A Conversation With Native Americans]( By MICHÈLE STEPHENSON and BRIAN YOUNG What does it mean to be a Native American today? ln our latest installment of [The Times’s Conversation on Race project]( we set out to include as many perspectives on native identity as possible. And there are many perspectives indeed. For this film, we spoke to dark-skinned and light-skinned individuals. Those whose ancestry ranges from one-sixteenth to four-fourth. People younger and older. And those who follow their tribe’s religion to those that follow Bible-based beliefs. We heard from people with backgrounds from as far as Arizona Navajo to the northeastern United States, and even interviewed Hawaiian and South American native individuals living in New York City. While there are naturally nuances to everyone’s personal story, we saw a profound universality in their experiences. No matter who you are, if you are Native American, your opinions and experiences are marginalized to the point of invisibility in American society and culture. This project presents an opportunity to express some of the deeper debates that shape the journey shared by many Native Americans to personal liberation. One pervasive theme that emerged was the struggle of not feeling “native enough.” There were a number of reasons for this, from imposed ideas of not having enough native blood to not having a stereotypical Indian look. But as one of our interviewees asked, What does being not native enough even mean? We are still contemplating. It was also inspiring to observe that despite these internalized feelings of oppression, people found their own sense of belonging and ways of being part of their Native nation or community, while at the same time maintaining a sense of individuality. Before filming these interviews, our co-director, Brian Young, had been struggling with his own sense of “nativeness.” (He is a member of the Diné, or Navajo, nation.) By hearing how others negotiated those feelings, he could better understand and explore his own way of expressing his Native identity while living in New York City. Despite the broad spectrum of indigenous identities who participated in our conversation, they shared the experience of living away from their respective reservations and communities. We hope that this piece helps inspire more online and offline conversations that include an even wider range of Native voices living in, around and beyond reservation communities. [Watch in Times Video »]( [Sign up for the Op-Docs newsletter]( to watch new films in the series. Ethan Tate for The New York Times [What He Did to a Mosque, and How He Was Forgiven]( Abraham never fit in. Hisham finally felt at home. Then their worlds collided in western Arkansas. ADVERTISEMENT Connect with us. We’re grateful to our readers. You shared your thoughts on race with us, and part of our dialogue was recognized this week as a finalist for an Online News Association Award. [[Read]( Join us at 9 p.m. Eastern on Wednesdays as we examine topics related to race and culture on The Times’s[Facebook page](. Roxane Gay, the best-selling author of the memoir “[Hunger]( joined our correspondents Rachel Swarns and John Eligon this week for a conversation about race, feminism and Charlottesville, a topic Ms. Gay [wrote about recently]( in our Opinion section. [[Watch]( Like Race/Related? Tell us what you’d like to see by writing to racerelated@nytimes.com, and help us grow by forwarding our newsletter to five of your friends and have them sign up at: [( We want to hear from you. We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [racerelated@nytimes.com](mailto:racerelated@nytimes.com?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback). Want more Race/Related? Follow us on Instagram, where we continue the conversation about race through stunning visuals. [Instagram]( [INSTAGRAM]( ADVERTISEMENT Around the Web Here are a few of the stories that we’re talking about, beyond The Times. In the Alt-Right, Women Are the Future, and the Problem [[Read]( “We Just Feel Like We Don’t Belong Here Anymore” [[Read]( White Nationalists Dislike What They Find in Ancestry Tests [[Read]( Black Military Servicewomen Embracing the Natural Hair Movement [[Read]( In The Times The Times publishes many articles that touch on race. Here are a few you shouldn’t miss, chosen by Race/Related editors. [As White Nationalist in Charlottesville Fired, Police ‘Never Moved’]( By FRANCES ROBLES Pleas for help and a safety plan were ignored at a rally that turned deadly on Aug. 12, participants said. Both sides feel betrayed by law enforcement. [Spanish Thrives in the U.S. Despite an English-Only Drive]( By SIMON ROMERO Thanks to migration, adaptation, pop culture and commerce, the Spanish language endures in the United States, regardless of any effort to control it. [A Hunt for Ways to Combat Online Radicalization]( By FARHAD MANJOO There are similarities between how Islamists and white nationalists operate online, researchers said. Those can be used to limit recruitment’s reach. Self-Fulfilling Prophecies [How Redlining’s Racist Effects Lasted for Decades]( By EMILY BADGER By declaring some neighborhoods bad risks for mortgages, 1930s-era appraisers altered the course of development, new research confirms. Critic’s Notebook [We Need to Move, Not Destroy, Confederate Monuments]( By HOLLAND COTTER The art historian in a critic wants to preserve Confederate images in museums, not trash them. At a crime scene, you don’t destroy evidence. [‘Girls Trip’ Writers Make Movie History — and Influence It, Too]( By YAMICHE ALCINDOR They say the first $100 million film from an all-black cast and creative team comes at a time when the country needs to celebrate women of color. [Going Hyperlocal, Filmmakers Explore the Pain of Racism]( By CARA BUCKLEY Racism’s perfidious effects on everyday lives is the broad subject linking five new documentaries and one feature, which all challenge mainstream narratives. FOLLOW RACE/RELATED [Instagram] [racerelated]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »]( | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Race/Related newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Change Your Email]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( | [Advertise]( Copyright 2017 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018