We’re currently nearly at the end of phase one of the possible Conor McGregor versus Floyd Mayweather boxing superfight, which has consisted of debating whether or not it’ll happen, and if so, how. Once the contract is signed and a date is revealed, we’ll move on to phase two: discussing just how ridiculous it is that the world’s best boxer is taking on an MMA fighter without a single pro boxing match under his belt. The very best in boxing could barely touch Mayweather over a period of decades. How exactly can anyone seriously expect Conor McGregor to win?
But Bellator fighter Chael Sonnen has an interesting take on the fight and how McGregor and MMA could win in the long run even if he loses to Floyd. FightHubTV caught up with Sonnen at this week’s Bellator: NYC press conference where he was promoting his fight with Wanderlei Silva set for June 15th at Madison Square Garden.
“The public dismisses boxing as a fringe, fake, and phony sport,” Sonnen said with his typical embellishment. “And the public may just be right! The fact that you can take a guy that has never lost in professional boxing and put him in there with a guy who has never done professional boxing and have a lot of people, including people in the industry of boxing, think that the guy who has never done it is going to beat your undefeated greatest of all time is an embarrassment for the sport.”
“If Conor McGregor lasts 30 seconds with Floyd Mayweather it discredits boxing, and I think he will. If Conor McGregor makes it out of one round with Floyd Mayweather, the entire sport of boxing is a fake, phony myth. And that’s the kind of pressure they’re under.”
While we doubt boxing will crumble into nothingness if McGregor survives a mere 30 seconds, Sonnen’s statement does underline the extremely high expectations Floyd Mayweather will need to surpass in order to come out of this McGregor fight looking good. Basically, he needs to knock Conor out or clown him severely throughout the fight. Anything less and McGregor will undoubtedly spin the fight as a moral victory that was lost on fight night due not to Mayweather’s superior skills but boxing’s deficiencies as a fight sport.
