Before any talk of Kamaru Usman vs. Canelo Álvarez ever existed, there was one man who wanted to see another welterweight legend vs. boxing superstar crossover showdown.
One year after the MayMac blockbuster of 2017, Floyd Mayweather had retired with a perfect professional record of 50-0 after defeating Conor McGregor. This was one of the best-selling pay-per-views of all time, and it went a long way in showing MMA fighters what’s possible in terms of potential paydays.
Georges St-Pierre also fought his last professional fight in 2017 in a victory over Michael Bisping. However, his coach, Firas Zahabi, was pushing for his star fighter to have one last hurrah against the PPV king.
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In the years after his retirement, Georges St-Pierre had been pushing for a fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov, but with that door firmly closed, the Canadian legend is content commentating on the sport from the sidelines. As for Firas Zahabi, he last made headlines last year for saying schools are feminizing men by sharing LGBTQ material.
Floyd Mayweather made headlines last week for booking another exhibition bout scheduled for September. The opponent is an MMA fighter, whose name isn’t as known or celebrated as St-Pierre, but it’s sure to continue to fill Mayweather’s pockets with more retirement funds.
But it does make one wonder, what if instead of a “Mikuru Asakura,” Mayweather actually did fight an esteemed MMA name like Georges St-Pierre?
In the following article published on this day four years ago, we revisit a story of St-Pierre’s coach pushing for just that.
The following article is presented to you in its original, unaltered form, courtesy of The MMA News Archives.
On This Day Four Years Ago…
[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JUNE 19, 2018, 6:23 PM]
Headline: Coach: I Want Georges St-Pierre to Fight Floyd Mayweather
Author: Fernando Quiles Jr.
Georges St-Pierre’s coach wants to see his fighter take on Floyd Mayweather.
St-Pierre last competed back in Nov. 2017. He went one-on-one with Michael Bisping for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight title. After dropping “The Count,” St-Pierre finished the fight via rear-naked choke in the third round. “Rush” vacated the title the following month.
Now, St-Pierre is back on the sidelines and is only willing to come back for a mega fight. He turned down a bout with Nate Diaz, saying it didn’t make sense and did nothing for his legacy. St-Pierre’s coach Firas Zahabi has a big name in mind for his fighter.
During a recent appearance on the JRE MMA Show, Zahabi explained why he wants to see St-Pierre vs. Mayweather:
“I want Georges to fight Mayweather. I keep bothering Georges ‘you fight Mayweather, you fight him’. He’s like ‘it’s crazy’. I know it’s crazy. They’ll fight at a catch weight. Do you think Mayweather is worried about being concussed? He’s fought all the top punchers in the world. He’s just going to have to worry about Georges’ volume and reach but he can handle himself and Georges can handle himself. But the whole world is going to tune into that one.
“I’m like ‘Georges do it’ but Georges doesn’t want to fight a smaller guy, doesn’t want to call out a smaller guy. So it’s going to have to come from Mayweather. It’s going to have to come from him.”
You can check out the clip of Zahabi explaining why he wants to see St-Pierre vs. Mayweather below:
Mayweather was last seen in action back in Aug. 2017. He defeated Conor McGregor via 10th round TKO. “Money” recently claimed that he wasn’t thinking about fighting at the moment.
Do you have any interest in seeing Georges St-Pierre vs. Floyd Mayweather in any capacity?
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