The Nevada State Athletic Commission will at least entertain the possibility of Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor wearing lighter boxing gloves in their highly anticipated fight later this month in Las Vegas.
NSAC executive director Bob Bennett confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday that both fighters have submitted official requests to wear 8-ounce gloves for their junior middleweight fight on Aug. 26 inside T-Mobile Arena.
Per Nevada regulations, any fight contested above the weight of 147 pounds must utilize 10-ounce gloves. The contracted weight for the Mayweather, McGregor bout is 154 pounds.
Despite the rule, Bennett said nothing prevents the two camps from submitting requests to wear the smaller gloves. The fighters will have a chance to argue in favor of the 8-ounce gloves before the matter comes to a vote during a commission meeting on Aug. 16.
"Both camps have submitted a waiver by the date we requested, which was today," Bennett told ESPN. "The commission will hear both camps' reasoning as to why it should deviate from its regulations during a scheduled meeting on Aug. 16. Our chairman Anthony Marnell will then lead a conversation with the other commission members and they will vote on it that day."
The commission vote was first reported by BoxingScene.com.
Arguments in favor of smaller gloves will have to be weighed against potential concerns regarding fighter health and safety, which Bennett recently told ESPN is of the "utmost importance to this commission."
Mayweather (49-0, 26 KOs) ignited the subject earlier this month when he announced on social media he wished to wear the 8-ounce gloves. McGregor (21-3), the UFC's lightweight champion, is used to wearing 4-ounce gloves in mixed martial arts.
During a four-stop media tour last month, Mayweather went so far as to say he'd wear 4-ounce gloves in the fight.