Boxing

Michael Rapaport has a message for Conor McGregor -- Floyd Mayweather's gonna kick your ass all the way back to Ireland!!!

Rap was sitting front and center at Floyd's training session at his Vegas boxing gym on Thursday night -- where he says it became crystal clear McGregor has no shot on Saturday.

He also blasted Conor for being an obnoxious, style-jacking, culture appropriating poser.

Rapaport also says he saw Demi Lovato at the training session -- and was upset because she didn't look super pumped to be there.

"Why are you here Demi Lovato?! I don't know why you're at the gym. You should be excited that you're at the gym, 'cause that's greatness you're watching, 49-0."

Mayweather/McGregor celeb fans are gonna be screwed out of prime Strip parking if they swoop in last minute ... because Vegas doesn't want the private jet s**t show that went down for Mayweather's last fight of the century.

You'll recall the famous pics of McCarran International Airport tarmacs choked with PJs in 2015 for Mayweather/Pacquiao. That traffic jam taught 'em a lesson. Airport sources tell TMZ, McCarran's implemented a reservation system.

The bad news for latecomers ... the lot's just about full. We're told McCarran is capping the number of birds allowed to park this weekend. Last minute arrivals will still be allowed to land, but will have to bolt after dropping off celebs.

That means anyone looking to flee at a moment's notice will be screwed. Ya can't call 'em to fuel up the jet, if the jet ain't even there. There is a plan B ... reserve parking at one of 2 nearby municipal airports.

Of course, they'd lose the joy of taxiing a G5 past Southwest jets packed with normies, and also would NOT be Strip adjacent -- but even filthy rich beggars can't be choosers.

Don't wanna pay for the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight? Get outta the country.

Seriously!!

A rep for the World Boxing Council tells TMZ Sports the entire country of Mexico will be able to watch Conor and Floyd duke it out fo' free Saturday ... 'cause 2 major TV networks have shelled out a ton of cash to show the fight on open TV.

We're told Televisa and Azteca will both air the fight so viewers won't have to cough up the $100 for Pay-Per-View -- but there's a bit of a catch.

The fight won't air live, so fans will have to wait a couple hours to see it.

Mini Mayweather and Mini McGregor had a pint-sized showdown leading up to their superfight ... and the results were nothing short of amazing!!

The ounce-for-ounce champ Mini Floyd is set to take on Mini Conor Friday ... and although they may be small, their mouths are just as big as their superstar counterparts.

The 3-round fight is set to go down at Larry Flynt's Hustler Club -- just down the road from T-Mobile Arena -- and the expectations are high. Well .. you know what we mean.

Dana White says Floyd Mayweather is full of crap -- and his allegations that Conor McGregor is using illegal tactics to cut weight for the fight are pure fiction.

Early Thursday morning, Mayweather told Ariel Helwani that he had information from a "strong source" that Conor had used 7 IV bags to stay hydrated for Saturday's big fight.

"You know, with the Nevada (Athletic) Commission, that's illegal," Mayweather said.

To be fair, Floyd kept using the words "rumor" and "allegedly" -- but he's a media master and he knows exactly what he's doing by putting that out there.

So, we called White -- who told TMZ Sports there's NOTHING true about Mayweather's claims. Period.

In fact, White pointed to reports that it was FLOYD who was caught up in IV drama before the Manny Pacquiao fight. USADA ultimately said the IV was administered to Floyd before that fight was approved.

But the bottom line ... White says there's no issue with McGregor because he's not using an IV.

Floyd Mayweather Sr. has his son's back in his beef with Justin Bieber -- saying the pop star unfairly kicked Floyd to the curb just because he found God.

As we previously reported, Floyd Jr. is furious with his former friend -- who's been distancing himself after some counseling from his church. Bieber even decided to unfollow Floyd on Instagram as part of a bigger plan to back away from people who don't share the same Christian values.

Enter Floyd Sr. ... who says he doesn't really know if the two will ever be able to bury the hatchet.

He also said Justin needs to be true to himself -- but just because he's a godly man now doesn't mean Floyd has to change.

The message is essentially ... Floyd's still the same guy who had your back in the past -- you shouldn't push him away now.

But will Bieber get an invite to the Mayweather vs. McGregor after-party?

This is what they're fighting for -- in addition to the $400 million -- the official "Money Belt" ... and it's LOADED with gold and diamonds.

We spoke with a rep for the World Boxing Council (WBC) who tells us the belt was specially made for the McGregor vs. Mayweather fight -- and they spared no expense!

We're talkin' 1.5 kilograms of 24k gold (that's roughly 3.3 pounds).

3,360 diamonds placed throughout the piece -- with an additional 600 sapphires and 160 emeralds!

The strap is made from crocodile leather.

It's not the first high-priced belt the WBC has made for a Mayweather fight -- they commissioned a special "Emerald Belt" when Floyd fought Manny Pacquiao ... which was valued at $1 million!

Even when Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather were trying to keep things business-like days before the fight, there were still insults flying at their final news conference.

Conor dropped the B word -- again -- vowing to "f**k this boy up" come Saturday night. He said it way more calmly this time around, but still didn't back off using the racially charged term.

For his part, Floyd complimented Conor -- calling him a tremendous fighter -- but reminded him of the the long list of boxing greats he'd defeated on the path to 49-0. As Floyd put it ... Pacquiao, Canelo and Mosley all had "had bombs" too.

Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor's fight was already gonna be a who's who of Hollywood -- the question now ... who's in good enough with a top agent to go for free?

Sources close to the boxing match this Saturday tell TMZ Sports ... talent agency WME's head, Ari Emanuel, as well as one of his company's core financiers, Silver Lake, has snatched up 250 tickets to the Vegas event ... and he's doling 'em out to Tinseltown's finest.

We're told most tickets cost $10k -- for a price tag of around $2 MILLION, and most are going to WME clients.

Here's the thing ... Ari's got a helluva lot of famous clients -- everyone from Charlize Theron to Oprah to Steven Spielberg and almost every big name in between. We don't know which clients got the tix, but there are a lot of happy ones.

Remember, WME bought UFC last year, and Silver Lake helped back the $4 billion deal. Guess it helps to have friends in high places when worlds collide.

Things got real heated between Conor McGregor and Paulie Malignaggi at a fight media event in Vegas moments ago -- with Paulie getting right in Conor's face, teasing him about his balls.

Paulie kept repeating to Conor, "Did you bring your balls?"

Conor reached out and put his hand on Paulie's shoulder and said, "You got your ass whooped. Get over it."

Paulie is furious with Conor for releasing a sparring video from his training camp which showed him knocking Paulie down in the ring.

Paulie claims the video was edited to make him look bad. Conor's camp says that's BS.

Paulie will be part of the Showtime announcing team working the Mayweather fight -- but Showtime says it's not worried about slanted coverage.

So much for an impartial announcer ...

One of the guys commentating on the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight hates Conor McGregor's guts with a passion ... which begs the question, why is Showtime allowing Paulie Malignaggi to call it?!

Paulie was Conor's training camp sparring partner until a nasty breakup last month. Since then, Paulie's been on a media blitz, blasting Conor to every media outlet that will have him on.

He's called McGregor everything from a dirtbag to a bum fighter -- and insinuated that he was set up by McGregor's people to be a fall guy in order to make Conor look like a legit boxer.

Despite the declaration of war, Showtime says Paulie will remain on the broadcast team -- they see the situation as a "non-story."

But it's a big story ... commentators have a BIG influence on how the public sees the fight and a constant, slanted trashing of McGregor could unfairly hurt his image.

In most cases, announcers tasked with working major sporting events like NFL or MLB games are mandated by networks to keep their opinions to themselves until the game.

Demi Lovato has signed on to sing the national anthem at the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight on August 26 ... Showtime has confirmed.

Lovato is a HUUUUGE fight fan. She's not only a regular at UFC fights, but also trains MMA at Jay Glazer's gym in Los Angeles.

She also just released her new single, "Sorry Not Sorry," last month -- so the timing is great for her.

Also, Diddy and Mark Wahlberg are making a $200k bet on the fight (doubling down on their Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight bet).

Diddy has Floyd. Mark has Conor. Mark lost the first bet and paid the money to charity. Guessing it's the same plan for this fight.

Conor McGregor is literally puffing his chest at Floyd Mayweather -- showing off the crazy physique he's been training for ... with just days left until the biggest fight of his life.

The Irish superstar posed down at the UFC Performance Institute in Vegas -- saying, "The final rev of the engine on the Conor McGregor Fast conditioning program tonight! What a camp it has been!"

He then got into his green Lamborghini to cool off.

Justin Bieber is not only off Floyd Mayweather's Money Team, he's now one of Floyd's mortal enemies ... TMZ has learned.

Sources connected to both Justin and Floyd tell us, the folks at the Hillsong Church have been counseling Justin for months on taking a hard look at his friends and pulling back from those who are bad influences.

We're told church pastors did not single out Floyd as a bad influence, but Justin decided on his own he needed some distance. Our sources say Justin didn't want a clean break from Floyd, he just wanted to "reset boundaries" ... walling himself off from things like Floyd's obsession with strip clubs.

Justin unfollowed Floyd on Instagram as part of the resetting of boundaries, and our sources say Floyd went "insane, nuclear." He lashed out at Justin, called him a "traitor" because Floyd had stuck with Justin during his meltdown when everyone was attacking Bieber.

Sources connected with Floyd say the boxer continues to be incensed at Justin ... screaming incensed.

Now it makes sense why Justin curiously told a photog last week he didn't think Floyd would knock Conor McGregor out at next Saturday's fight.

TMZ Sports has put our investigative resources to good use ... and found out the identities of the Corona Girls who've been tapped to work the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight.

You're welcome.

Meet Kyra Keli, Tawny Jordan, Jessica Harbour, and Samantha Kumiko ... 4 of the women who will be working the ring during the August 26 fight.

As we previously reported, Corona won the bid to become the official beer sponsor of the fight and will provide the ring girls.

We're told the women are STOKED -- not only because they're getting the best seats in the house for the fight, but they feel like they'll be showcased to a HUGE audience!

Huge sporting events mean huge money for sex workers ... but cops in Vegas have a message for tourists -- if you're gonna pay for it, KEEP IT LEGAL!