PAY-PER-VIEW SPECIAL: The last time I paid for a pay-per-view boxing event was 20 years ago, in 1997. That’s when Mike Tyson, in a WBA Heavyweight Championship rematch against Evander Holyfield, bit Holyfield’s ear in the third round and was disqualified – but only after biting Holyfield’s other ear. At a $50 fee to watch then, that worked out to more than $15 per round. Tonight’s bout between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor, by contrast, is going for a steep, unprecedented $99.95 on pay-per-view outlets – and technically, it isn’t even a title fight, just a Las Vegas mega-spectacle. Mayweather is an American boxer, a welterweight champion, who retired almost two years ago but has unretired, at age 40, to face this particular opponent. McGregor is an Irish mixed martial arts star, the UFC’s biggest name, whose fights usually allow, and demand, kicking and wrestling as well as punching. McGregor, at 29, is much younger, and has the better backstory: He was raised in Dublin and collected a welfare check days before his first UFC fight, while Mayweather has a history of violence against women. But in a battle limited to the “sweet science” of boxing, Mayweather is given the overwhelming advantage by most experts. Even if he loses badly and quickly, though, McGregor leaves the ring some $100 million richer – so if there’s sympathy for anyone in this entire sports spectacle, it’s for the TV fans who pay so exorbitantly for a fight that may end very, very quickly.