Conor McGregor says he carried Floyd Mayweather 3 years ago

By Boxing News - 08/27/2020 - Comments

By Allan Fox: Conor McGregor took a shot at his former opponent Floyd Mayweather Jr on Wednesday by taunting him about their fight three years ago on August 26th in Las Vegas, Nevada.

On the anniversary of their colossal mega-fight that pulled in $400 million and generated over 4 million pay-per-view buys, McGregor took to social media to tease the retired Mayweather about their fight.

Mayweather made $300 million from that fight, which so dull to watch and even worse than Floyd’s dull ‘Fight of the Century’ against Manny Pacquiao in 2015.

Floyd recently said that he’s happy in his retirement and that he doesn’t have the desire to return to the ring. Boxing fans haven’t been talking of wanting to see a rematch between Mayweather and McGregor.

No interest in Mayweather-McGregor 2

There’s no interest with fans seeing Mayweather vs. McGregor get it on again. Fans want to see a rematch between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, but Floyd knows better than to agree to that.

Image: Conor McGregor says he carried Floyd Mayweather 3 years ago

Pacquiao, 41, looked impressive in his last fight in dethroning WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman last July. Mayweather (50-0 27 KOs) likely understands that if he fights Pacquiao right now, he will lose to him, and it would wreck the unbeaten record that he carefully built during his long career.

The former UFC star McGregor (0-1) says he “CARRIED” Mayweather in his final professional fight. The opposite was the reality of that fight. Mayweather fought in slow motion, carrying the Irish fighter McGregor for ten rounds before taking him out with a series of slow shots.

“3 years ago today I carried Floyd for his final boxing match. Wow, time flies when you’re stacking cheddar. Happy retirement champ,” said McGregor on his Instagram on Wednesday.

McGregor made $100 million from the Mayweather fight, and he soon after retired from the UFC after fighting just one more time in losing to Khabib.

Floyd, 43, would make McGregor a happy man if he gives him the rematch that he’s been craving for the last three years. Mayweather might have a difficult time trying to sell a rematch between him and McGregor at this point, as he hasn’t fought since then in a professional fight.

Mayweather would need to market the second match

For Mayweather and McGregor to attract a lot of interest from the casual fans, they would need to market the match to the hilt.

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A second fight would still make Mayweather and McGregor a lot of money, but probably not the eight figures that Floyd would want. Mayweather wants to make $100 million each time he fights, and he probably wouldn’t be able to do that now in this climate with the pandemic.

Moreover, boxing and UFC fans are now wiser, having already seen the boring Mayweather-McGregor mismatch from 2017, and they won’t want to waste their money on another farce. Mayweather has to realize that otherwise, he would have pulled the trigger on another fight against McGregor by now.

McGregor, who was making his pro debut, was exhausted by the 10th round, and unable to defend himself when Mayweather suddenly went on the attack. The referee Robert Byrd was forced to step in at that point and halt the contest.

In the early rounds, McGregor did have his moments in landing a few shots against Mayweather, and he didn’t look bad for a boxing novice.

Pacquiao won’t fight Conor

With Mayweather not interested in a second fight, McGregor, 32. recently turned his attention to Manny Pacquiao, attempting to get a boxing match against him too. However, it doesn’t appear that a fight between them is in the cards.

Image: Conor McGregor says he carried Floyd Mayweather 3 years ago

Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune made it clear that there’s no interest in a fight against McGregor, who is trying to scrape together a match against him.

“Why even make that guy rich? And it won’t do absolutely anything for Pacquiao as far as his legacy.

“Manny goes down as the greatest fighter in history when he finishes because no one has done what he accomplished in boxing,” said Fortune to the manilatimes.net.

“Why destroy your legacy for a bum like McGregor?’ Manny will destroy Conor McGregor inside the three rounds. He will obliterate him too fast and too strong as an amazing fighter. McGregor is nothing,” said Fortune.

You can argue that McGregor wouldn’t last more than one round against Pacquiao if he poured it on immediately right out of the starting blocks.

The problem with Pacquiao knocking out McGregor in the first round would be the considerable backlash that he would have to deal with from the paying boxing fans, who would likely be furious at having dished out their hard-earned money on a mismatch.

It would be a disaster for Pacquiao, and he would come out of the McGregor fight with a tarnished legacy in the eyes of some boxing fans. That’s pretty much what happened with Mayweather, even though he carried McGregor to the 10th round.

The terrible Mayweather vs. McGregor undercard

The fans were still furious about how one-sided and incredibly boring the Mayweather-McGregor fight turned out to be. You have to remember that fans paid $100 per household for Mayweather’s match against McGregor, and that’s a lot of money to pay to see an underperforming fight along with a skeleton undercard, which was equally poor.

Image: Conor McGregor says he carried Floyd Mayweather 3 years ago

The undercard fights for Mayweather vs. McGregor:

  • Badou Jack vs. Nathan Cleverly – Jack destroyed Cleverly in five rounds in a one-sided fight
  • Gervonta Davis vs. Francisco Fonseca – Tank stopped Fonseca in eight rounds
  • Yordenis Ugas vs. Thomas Dulorme – Ugas beaten Dulorme by a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision
  • Andrew Tabiti vs. Steve Cunningham – cruiserweight Tabiti beat Cunningham by a 10 round unanimous decision

Fans didn’t get value for their money for the Mayweather-McGregor fight, and Pacquiao could find himself in a similar spot if he were to face Conor. Unless the undercard were stacked with talent, boxing fans would be angry if he blew McGregor away in one round.