There has been increasing speculation that Irish MMA sensation Conor McGregor is being primed for a return to the boxing ring rather than UFC’s Octagon. That’s because Floyd Mayweather Jr. is mulling over yet another comeback fight in Las Vegas. Paulie Malignaggi believes that there are only two likely candidates to face Mayweather Jr. – Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor. Malignaggi, who has become a leading Showtime pundit since hanging up his boxing gloves, believes Mayweather Jr. would not be interested in locking horns again with Manny Pacquiao, who was comfortably beaten by the 43-year-old five years ago.
Malignaggi believes that Pacquiao wouldn’t make boxing or commercial sense for Mayweather Jr. A rematch with McGregor – and all the pre-fight fanfare that it would bring – would certainly be a major payday; as would a bout with the undefeated Nurmagomedov. Malignaggi is skeptical about the likelihood of Mayweather Jr. choosing to fight Nurmagomedov, given that the Kazakh is “in his prime in every way”. For Nurmagomedov, it would be an opportunity “to do something against an out-of-prime Mayweather”.
McGregor learning from his boxing experience
McGregor has also been talking up his prospects in the boxing ring of late. The Dubliner has recently admitted to making several “embarrassing” errors in his first bout with Mayweather Jr. He says that he “shivers” when he looks back at his punching technique, admitting that he “wasn’t sitting right on them”. However, before his most recent UFC fight with Donald Cerrone, McGregor insisted that he is now “getting into positions and sitting in” and that boxing experience was “the best teacher of all”. The Irishman was intimating that he was keen to have a second crack at boxing’s finest pound-for-pound champion in the history of the sport.
Reports of a rematch between McGregor and Mayweather Jr. have already attracted the attention of the leading sportsbooks that have published phantom markets on the outcome of any potential rematch. Now more than ever is a great time to get involved in theses betting markets, as the competition hots up, and even more heated words continue to be exchanged
Malignaggi: Mayweather Vs McGregor 2 would be “useless” contest
Malignaggi might think a match-up with McGregor or Nurmagomedov is possible, but that doesn’t mean that he believes it’s the right move for Mayweather Jr. The New Yorker labelled MMA fans “the dumbest” on the planet. The former two-division champ said that MMA fans would continue to “eat those fights up” and “buy that pay-per-view” because they are “too dumb” to acknowledge the “uselessness” of either contest.
Mike Tyson, a man that is also plotting a bizarre return to the ring aged 53, took part in a podcast interview that was recently shared on social media which showed him praising McGregor. Tyson praised McGregor’s achievements of going ten rounds with “the greatest fighter of the last 100 years”. McGregor himself caught a glimpse of Tyson’s interview and responded via Twitter saying that he would “crack the puzzle” of Mayweather Jr. in the “inevitable rematch”. Mayweather Jr. teased the prospect of doing battle with McGregor once more at the turn of the New Year, just minutes after McGregor demolished Donald Cerrone at the UFC 246. He published a “Mayweather Vs. McGregor 2 – 2020” pre-fight poster on his official Instagram page, sparking mass excitement in the boxing community. It’s clear that Mayweather and McGregor no longer need the money to fight, but the desire for Mayweather to retain his unparalleled boxing status and for McGregor to try and defy the odds still burns bright.
