Boxer Amir Khan believes that despite his hinting about it, Floyd Mayweather wants no part of an MMA fight.
While all the hoopla of 2017 surrounded an elite UFC fighter crossing over into boxing, it seems that 2018 is taking things in the opposite direction.
Following his win over Conor McGregor last August, Floyd Mayweather Jr. said he was finally retired. But in the last few weeks, he has made many rumblings about a possible fight with McGregor under MMA rules in the UFC Octagon. While Floyd is the king of self-promotion and everything should be taken with a grain of salt, there is a boxer out there that seems to understand more about what Mayweather might have to deal with if he did fight MMA – which is why he thinks “Money” would never do it.
Amir Khan talked to Sky Sports (video via RyanThomasMMA on Twitter) about the possibility, or lack thereof:
“I don’t think they [Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao] will ever step in the cage. MMA is a very difficult sport, you need to have a lot of strength and takedowns and I just don’t think a boxer is just gonna have all the tools to fight someone in an MMA cage, it’s gonna be really difficult.
I’ve been seeing Mayweather talking about and taking a lot of videos and pictures inside the MMA cage, but I just can’t see that ever happening. I can’t see him ever stepping in with someone in the MMA cage.”
He’s right. He’s exactly right. But does that mean the fight will never happen? Most of us never thought Conor would step into a boxing ring, so who even knows anymore?