For a fight that many experts predict will never happen, there sure has been a lot of news about Floyd Mayweather Jr. fighting Conor McGregor. That’s because Mayweather is stoking the flames for the hypothetical boxing vs. MMA match, telling the press, “The rumors that you all have been hearing are the rumors that I started. It may not be a rumor.”
This isn’t just a passing fancy for Mayweather, either. He reiterated his desire to face McGregor in a video with ESNews, saying it’s the only fight worth coming out of retirement for.
“If I do fight, it’s only against Conor McGregor,” he said. “That’s gonna be my only fight and not against nobody else because this matchup is just so intriguing. You have a fighter against an MMA fighter, one of the best MMA fighters to do combat and stand up and do it. He’s a strong fighter, and when I look at him fight, he’s a little faster than I thought he was. So if the fight happens, I can’t overlook the guy. I’m pretty sure… if we make the fight happen, I’m pretty sure he’s gonna push me to the limit.”
There are still no specifics on how the fight would come together, though.
“I’m pretty sure we’re gonna have a master plan to make that fight happen. It hasn’t happened yet, but we locked down some dates. Me and my team, me and Al Haymon, me and Leonard Ellerbe, we locked down some dates in different countries, in different cities in the United States. And you already know what my number is, $100 million. That’s just the guarantee. We don’t talk about my number on the back end.”
This is where reality starts to get in the way of this superfight. The UFC is famous for refusing to co-promote or lend fighters out to other promotions. The fight isn’t happening without its involvement, and when the UFC is involved, president Dana White wants things done his way. The last thing he’d want to do is throw an event that paves the way to the UFC’s fighters demanding Mayweather paydays. I’m sure the UFC is also not hot on the idea of having one of its biggest stars beaten in a novelty boxing match.
But there may be enough money in this fight to make something happen. White and Floyd Mayweather know each other from White’s early days in the boxing scene, and he invited Mayweather to call him if he was serious about the fight. It certainly sounds like Mayweather is serious. Whether he’s interested in doing it alongside the UFC or if there’s some plan to try and get McGregor out of his UFC contract is still unclear. McGregor and the UFC have been at odds since they canceled his rematch with Nate Diaz at UFC 200, so he may be interested in exploring his limited legal options, as well. Or this could all be a troll job perpetrated by the would-be opponents to generate publicity and stroke their egos.
For now, it seems like Mayweather is content to keep talking to the press and hyping up a possible bout with McGregor. What comes out of it is anyone’s guess.
(Via MMA Fighting)
