Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

By Boxing News - 07/13/2017 - Comments

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

By Jeff Aranow: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has nothing against the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor fight on August 26. Arum doesn’t see the fight hurting boxing by taking place. However, Arum does view the Mayweather-McGregor match as a non-fight.

Arum thinks that McGregor should have first fought a 4-round fight so that the boxing fans could see what he’s all about before he went into a 12 round affair. Arum believes that the 4 rounder would be a problem for McGregor.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission is sanctioning the Mayweather-McGregor fight. They’re not blocking it. But even if they did decide to not sanction it, another state Commission would likely step in and sanction it. They would be the ones that would benefit from all the increase boxing and MMA fans streaming into the state to see the fight.

“They’ve thrown it out there and a lot of people want to see it. Let them see it. But … do I think it’ll be a real fight? No, I don’t,” said Arum to Lance Pugmire of the latimes.com. “They should put McGregor in a four-round fight just to show him what [boxing’s] about. That would be the end of McGregor.”

It’s a real fight. Mayweather has got a top guy from the UFC in McGregor. If you’ve seen McGregor fight before, he’s got amazing talent that would work in boxing as well. He’s like Joe Smith Jr. He’s got that kind of punching power and raw skills. Smith Jr. is the same kind of guy with massive power and not a lot of great skills. Smith Jr. still does extremely well despite not having a lot of experience. McGregor is getting a crash course in boxing by taking on Mayweather on August 26.

We’re going to see how quickly McGregor can compete and adapt to the levels that Mayweather shows. If McGregor can’t raise his game, then he’ll lose the fight quickly. McGregor’s corner needs to make sure they don’t leave him ot there too long if he’s not performing well. The worst thing they can do is to let McGregor flounder and take a beating from Mayweather. The boxing and MMA fans are being asked to pay a lot of money on PPV to see the fight. It goes for $90 to $100 on PPV, but that doesn’t mean that McGregor should be left out there to soak up punishment if he’s not competing well.

I don’t think Arum is right about McGregor having problems if he’d have taken a 4 round fight. McGregor is more talented than a lot people realize. If McGregor fought a 4 round fight, he’d likely have been put in with someone with less than top tier boxing skills. McGregor is going to beat a lot of fighters. You can’t throw a B or C level fighter in the ring with McGregor and think they’re going to beat him. It’s going to take an A-level type of guy to defeat McGregor. He’s got talent, and punching power. McGregor’s power alone would be enough for him to give problems to almost anybody in the 147lb division. McGregor might have problems against top junior middleweights, but he would do well against welterweights.

Arum was involved in the 1976 match between Muhammad Ali and Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki. That fight is the closest thing that comes to the Mayweather-McGregor match. The difference is, McGregor will stay on his feet and will be looking to knockout Mayweather. McGregor isn’t going to plop down on his back in the 1st round, and stay on his back for the full 15 rounds, kicking at Ali the way that Inoki did against Ali.

“We went into that fight without having any rules at all,” Arum said. “There was one round where Inoki rolled on his back. One time, he stood up and Ali missed him with a punch by two feet and Inoki staggered back.”

That Ali-Inoki fight was a terrible one. Having seen it on YouTube not long ago, it’s hard to believe boxing fans paid to see the fight. But there’s a big difference between that fight and the Mayweather-McGregor fight. This is going to be a real fight. Contrary to popular opinion, McGregor isn’t likely going to try and get disqualified by fouling Mayweather in the early rounds to get thrown out of the fight. McGregor is going to be looking to win. The best way for McGregor to do that is for him to and one of his scorching left hands to the head or body of Mayweather. McGregor is a lot smarter than people give him credit for. He learns quickly.

McGregor doesn’t need 15 to 20 years of boxing the way that some fighters for him to be good. Mayweather has been involved in boxing since he was 5-years-old. But he’s the type that would have been able to pick it up quickly within 6 months if he had been given the same crash course in boxing like McGregor is doing now. The best athletes are able to pick up boxing and hit the ground running. I think that’s going to be the case with McGregor. He doesn’t need a ton of training for him to have a chance of beating Mayweather.

I hope for Mayweather’s sake that he’s taking this fight seriously against McGregor. If Mayweather lets his concentration lapse for even a second, he could be counting stars on the canvas. McGregor has heavy hands, and he’ll make sure he lands one of his big left hands to the head of Mayweather to try and get a knockout. That’s McGregor’s best chance of winning the fight is by a knockout. We already know that Mayweather is almost impossible to beat by a decision. That might be one of the reasons why McGregor is talking about wanting to knock him out within 4 rounds. Out-boxing a fighter like Mayweather is extremely unlikely. It won’t be so bad for Mayweather if he suffers his first loss of his career against McGregor. The two would then meet up in a rematch, and Mayweather would likely make even more money in the second fight than he did in the first fight.

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight

Image: Arum says Mayweather-McGregor not real fight