By Allan Fox: In a strange move, Floyd Mayweather Jr. reportedly told trainer Freddie Roach to agree to train UFC fighter Conor McGregor if he’s asked by him to train him for their proposed fight. It’s unknown why Mayweather wants Roach to train the 27-year-old McGregor for a fight between them.
It could be that Mayweather might think having Roach’s name associated with McGregor could help pump up interest in the Mayweather-McGregor fight. It sounds good if the media can mention Roach as the trainer for McGregor rather than some obscure boxing trainer or an MMA trainer with little knowledge of the sport.
Roach also has proven himself as being good at promoting PPV fights with his ability to trash talk. Roach has frequently done much of the talking for his fighter Manny Pacquiao’s fights. Roach is very good at creating interest in his fighters’ bouts by creating a lot of quotes for the media.
“He has not called me yet but Mayweather did come by my gym last week and he asked me to take that job if it’s offered to me,” said Roach to Inside MMA on AXS TV. “He told me the fight is going to happen and we’re going to make a lot of money.”
On Monday, Mayweather posted a fake fight poster of him and McGregor on his Instagram account that had boxing and MMA fans talking. Mayweather sees this as a big money fight that can bring in a lot of PPV buys. However, it’s not seen by knowledgeable boxing fans as a bout that will be in any competitive. The fight, if it takes place, will be under boxing rules and McGregor is just starting out in learning the sport. He has so much to learn and so little time for him to learn it if he wants to be able to compete with Mayweather.
“I do know that he’s trained at Wild Card West, which is one of my gyms on the west side, and he’s sparring with a couple of my professional fighters over there and I hear he’s not doing that well with my professionals,” said Roach.
It’s not surprising that the 27-year-old McGregor isn’t doing well against the professional fighters. The video clips of McGregor sparring welterweight Chris Van Heerden on Youtube show a fighter that has a great deal to learn. Van Heerden did pretty much as he pleased in the video clip, and he’s not seen as one of the top welterweights in boxing.
.@badmedina https://t.co/648Qb26FTL pic.twitter.com/67agluPAGt
— Floyd Mayweather (@FloydMayweather) May 30, 2016
Mayweather vs. McGregor fight still hasn’t been negotiated as of yet, so there’s a possibility the fight may not take place. One major hurdle the two fighters will need to get past is the guaranteed purses. Both want $100 million, and the fight might not make that much. Mayweather talks of making well over $100 million for his fight against Manny Pacquiao last year.
There would need to be a $200 million pot for Mayweather and McGregor to split between them. That’s a lot of money for a fight that figures to be a mismatch. It’s the wrong fight as boxing fans go.
They don’t want to see Mayweather fight an MMA guy that many of them have never heard or will care about. The fans want to see Mayweather fight Gennady Golovkin. In other words, the fans want to see Mayweather fight someone that he has a chance of losing to. There’s no chance of Mayweather losing to McGregor in a boxing match. That’s why the PPV money for the fight might not be as big as Mayweather thinks it will be.