Mary McGee Looking To Bruise Up Victoria Bustos For Controversial Statement!
IBF super lightweight champion “Merciless” Mary McGee (27-3, 15 KO’s) is on a seven fight win streak and coming off back-to-back knockout victories. Yet, if there ever was a fight that she wanted the knockout in, it’s her next bout; a unification with former IBF lightweight champion Victoria “La Leona” Bustos (21-6, 0 KO)!
Bustos herself provided the motivation when she took to social media and revealed her “racist” mentality. The Argentine boxer attempted to demean the champion by calling her a monkey and included the gorilla emoji.
With McGee promptly responded.
HISTORY OF RACISM
The incident is very similar to when former light heavyweight champion Sergey “The Krusher” Kovalev displayed his “racist” ideologies. In 2015 Kovalev made a post to Adonis Stevenson with his son wearing a shirt bearing the image of a chimpanzee. The included test with the post read, “Adonis looks great!” Naturally, when the Krusher came under fire he claimed he didn’t realize that linking blacks and monkeys was racist. In somewhat similar fashion Bustos has already begun assuming the role of victim.
It’s almost common for foreigners to use the well-known “monkey” slander then act clueless when called to task. Connor McGregor did the same thing in the build-up to his fight with Floyd Mayweather. When asked about Rocky 3 backstage on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, he questioned “that’s the one when they had the celebrity [Mr. T] and all the dancing monkeys in the gym?” Of course McGregor later would say that he had no racist intention in mind and didn’t understand what the fuss was about.
Yet, it’s unbelievably difficult to believe that Kovalev, McGregor or Bustos were completely unaware of how their words would be taken. The racist act of linking blacks with monkeys is hundreds of years old and a global phenomenon. While not boxing, in soccer it is a regular practice for racist fans to ridicule black players by throwing bananas on the field. That happens in numerous countries around the world. This is said to say that the racist act of labeling blacks as monkeys is not merely limited to being an American thought process. This slur is a world-wide issue.
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DAY OF RECKONING
Clearly McGee was not happy to see La Leona’s sentiments and will relish socking her in the face come August 20 on UFC Fight Pass. The bout will mark the second defense of her IBF strap. McGee defeated Ana Laura Esteche by tenth round knockout to acquire the vacant belt on December 5, 2019.
When Merciless slides through the ropes to battle Bustos it will be her first contest in eighteen months. Although, her resume is spotted with several year or two year gaps of inactivity, ideally it will not greatly affect her performance. Along with McGee’s IBF title, the two rivals will compete for the vacant WBO super lightweight title as well.
Unlike Merciless, Bustos was just in the ring in June picking up a majority decision over Maria Soledad Capriolo.
COMMON GROUND
Racist sentiments or not, La Leona is not coming to lie down. While she does have a number of losses, many come against great competition. Bustos has matched wits and lost to Erica Anabelle Farias (twice), undisputed lightweight champion Katie Taylor and former undisputed welterweight champion Cecilia Braekhus.
All of these losses came by way of decision. In fact, Bustos has never been stopped within the distance. Therefore, a knockout victory for Merciless would be especially satisfying. Ironically both women lost to Erica Anabelle Farias and both beat Ana Esteche to become IBF champions. So it will be interesting to see where this bad blood feud goes on fight night.
By: Bakari Simpson
