British Olympian Amir Khan is the latest boxer to give their insight into the chances of Conor McGregor against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the ring.
The English welterweight, who once campaigned to fight both McGregor and Mayweather himself, spoke with ES Sports to state that, quite simply, the Irishman’s lack of boxing experience works against him:
“McGregor keeps saying he wants to come into boxing but he’s all talk,” the boxer said.
“McGregor keeps saying he wants to come into boxing but he’s all talk.I know he’s doing a little bit of boxing here and there, but boxing and MMA are two different sports.I think that he’s [McGregor] not made as a boxer, but he might do well, he’s got that punching power that everyone says.”
Mayweather is one of the greatest boxers in the history of the sport, and the prospect of a Mixed Martial Artist beating the man at his own craft has been regularly scoffed at by fellow fighters. Khan sees McGregor’s optimism as admirable, but suggests that he needs to do a lot of work until he can genuinely challenge one of boxing’s all-time defensive masters :
“Mayweather can break anyone down”, Khan said. “Take away that power, pick them off and I think conor McGregor just falls short in boxing. It’s his first fight he’s having as a professional boxer, 12 rounds, against the best boxer, with the best defence. He [McGregor] could start off maybe taking one or two warm up fights then taking someone decent then taking Mayweather at the end.
Khan explained that, while “TBE” is older and maybe not as strong as he once was, he is still Floyd Mayweather Jr:
“Floyd is one of the best fighters in the decade we’ve had in boxing and McGregor wants to fight the best out there. Floyd’s getting a bit older now, he might not be physically stronger now, or physically in great shape but I know one thing about Floyd – he’s mentally a great fighter.”