Floyd Mayweather also says he will only end his retirement for a bout against Conor McGregor.
Floyd Mayweather has been talking consistently about Conor McGregor as of late. Over the weekend, he doubled down and stated that a boxing match against the UFC champ is the only bout he will come out of retirement for.
“If I do fight, it’s only against Conor McGregor,” McGregor said (transcribed by MMA Fighting). “That’s gonna be my only fight and not against nobody else because this matchup is just so intriguing. You have a fighter against an MMA fighter, one of the best MMA fighters to do combat and stand up and do it. He’s a strong fighter and when I look at him fight he’s a little faster than I thought he was so if the fight happens I can’t overlook the guy. I’m pretty sure – if we make the fight happen – I’m pretty sure he’s gonna push me to the limit.”
McGregor is currently under contract with the UFC, making the finalization of this possible boxing match somewhat tricky. Mayweather though, still seems to be confident they’ll make it happen.
“I’m pretty sure we’re gonna have a master plan to make that fight happen,” he said. “It hasn’t happened yet, but we locked down some dates. Me and my team, me and Al Haymon, me and Leonard Ellerbe we locked down some dates in different countries, in different cities in the United States. And you already know what my number is, 100 million. That’s just the guarantee. We don’t talk about my number on the back end.”
“I think it’s gonna be so entertaining if we can do it, if we can put a boxer with an MMA fighter, because I can’t overlook that guy. Me, myself, I’m not gonna overlook him. We haven’t made the fight happen yet but if we can tweak a few things I’m pretty sure we can get him, not a good payday but a great payday.”
“He’s tough. He’s a tough competitor. You know every time he goes out there and fights, when he kicks ass he kicks ass in a standup position. So if the fight does happen, I truly believe it’s going to be record-breaking.”
There lies the primary motivation for the boxing champ aptly named ‘Money’. With both men’s star power from two sports, he believes they can combine the market and break the pay-per-view record he set during the Manny Pacquiao fight
“With my numbers for the Pacquiao fight I know we was at 4.6, I know we’re somewhere around 5 million now. 5 million homes, pay-per-view. And even if we’re not at 5 million it sounds good. I know we’re over 4.6 so we gonna say 5 million. We probably can break that number. It’s possible. Anything is possible.”
Dana White recently reacted to this bout, saying Floyd should call him if he’s really interested in booking a match against McGregor. With the Irishman’s restrictive contract, it seems more likely that a co-promotion or an agreement with the UFC must happen before this bout can materialize.
As for any “master plans” outside of that, Bloody Elbow’s John Nash did detail one possible avenue that the Mayweather vs McGregor bout can happen without the UFC’s permission.