There’s no shortage of fighters looking to get a crack at former UFC champion Conor McGregor. It’s actually becoming quite exhausting to keep track of all of the fighters linked to a potential clash with “Notorious.”
The list, which includes notable fighters such as Khabib Nurmagomedov, Donald Cerrone, Tony Ferguson, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao, and Justin Gaethje, can now welcome in reigning WBA (Super) welterweight boxing champion Keith Thurman.
Thurman, who holds a professional boxing record of 29-0 (1 NC) with 22 careers wins by way of knockout, is currently scheduled to fight Pacquiao on July 20 in Las Vegas. It will be a huge contest for “One Time” as he tries to further build off of his back-to-back wins over Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia just a few years ago.
Despite his upcoming tilt with Pacquiao, who remains one of the biggest names in boxing, Thurman recently turned his attention to McGregor in hopes of goading the PPV cash cow into a future return to the squared circle.
“Conor, box me, baby,” Thurman recently told TMZ Sports (shown above). “Conor, box me! You know you make more money in the boxing ring, anyways. Box me, Conor!
“Next pay-per-view fight after Manny Pacquiao.”
Remember, McGregor made his first and only professional appearance inside of the boxing ring back in 2017 when he met Mayweather in a money fight for the ages. McGregor did much better than fight fans expected, especially the hoards of boxing enthusiasts, but eventually lost via 10th-round TKO.
Thurman, who remains critical of McGregor’s performance against Mayweather, believes the Irishman doesn’t have the overall striking skills to succeed in the sport of boxing.
“Once he realized he can’t land regular punches, he started doing overhand hammer slaps,” he said. “You can’t hold, you can’t kick, you can’t grapple. The advantage is, ‘Do you have skills with the left? Do you have skills with the right? Do you have footwork?’
“And one thing he doesn’t have is conditioning. He’s not ready for these championship fights,” Thurman continued. “Floyd walked him down and beat him like he was playing Fight Night.”
With McGregor’s return to fighting in limbo fight fans really don’t know what to expect next, especially after seeing McGregor’s bum hand earlier this week. So even though Thurman is likely to cause some sort of stir for these type of comments don’t expect him and McGregor to square off anytime soon.