Legendary boxing coach Freddie Roach was recently linked to rumors that UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor’s team contacted him to coach the Irishman for a possible upcoming boxing bout against legend Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather. Well that may not exactly be the case.
In a recent interview on AXS TV’s “Inside MMA,” Roach discussed a recent conversation with Mayweather, who visited Roach at his Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, with hosts Bas Rutten and Mauro Ranallo.
According to Roach, ‘Money’ actually told him to coach the Irishman and also claimed the bout was set to go down for a huge payday:
“There’s a lot of rumors out there and I’m getting constant calls that Conor asked me to train him,” Roach said. “But they’re not true. He has not called me yet.
But Mayweather did come by my gym last week and he asked me to take that job if it’s offered to me, because he told me the fight is gonna happen and we’re gonna make a lot of money.”
Roach, however, believes it would take quite some time to get the 145-pound champ in fighting shape to go toe-to-to with the undefeated legend:
“As I told Mayweather, I said,”It would take me three years, at least, to get him ready to fight you,” Roach said.
“I don’t think it’s really possible for an MMA fighter to fight a boxer, or I don’t think it’s really even fair. Depending on what rules you fight under, one person has a tremendous advantage.
So Mayweather would out-box him I think all day long. Conor McGregor seems like a tough guy and all that, but being a tough guy really doesn’t help you in boxing.”
While Mayweather did confirm that the bout was set to go down, Roach admits that an official date was not mentioned:
“No, he did not give me a date,” Roach said. “And then I went to Russia the next day with [Denis] Lebedev. [Mayweather] did not come back [to the Wild Card Boxing Club] to see me when I was in Russia, but I haven’t seen him since. But there was no date discussed at all, no.”
Mayweather, according to Roach, is now training at his gym in Santa Monica, and Roach has heard that ‘Money’ isn’t doing to well against his trained professionals:
“But I do know he’s training at the Wild Card West, which is one of my gyms on the west side [in Santa Monica], and he’s sparring with a couple of my professional fighters over there. And I hear he’s, umm, not doing that well with my professionals.”
While Roach respects McGregor’s MMA ability, the Hall Of Fame coach doesn’t believe Mayweather would drop a single round against the Irishman:
“Mayweather is the best boxer in the world and I think he just would absolutely not even lose a round against a guy with Conor’s experience,” Roach said.
“He looks like an OK boxer. He’s a very good MMA fighter. But the thing is, this is boxing and the thing is he’s just kind of a beginner in boxing.
And again, it probably would take me almost three years to get him ready for a fight against a guy like Mayweather. I was hoping Mayweather was gonna come and ask Manny for a rematch, but that didn’t come true.”
You can check out Roach’s interview with Rutten and Ranallo here:
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