Floyd Mayweather — much like he did with Conor McGregor — is adamantly saying a boxing fight between he and current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov will indeed go down.
Unlike McGregor, though, “The Eagle” will not get knocked out by “Money,” as former UFC Middleweight champion Michael Bisping says Khabib has enough cardio and stamina to last 12 rounds with the best boxer in the world. He said as much during his “Believe You Me” podcast via MMANYTT.
“I swear to god, Khabib would go the distance with Mayweather. He’d go the distance with Mayweather. I’m not saying Khabib is a better boxer than McGregor, he’s not a better striker, he’s not as elusive, he’s not as slick but he’s got a f–king chin and he’s got cardio for days. And Mayweather at his age, he was never a knockout guy even though he did have some knockouts. He knocked out England’s very own Ricky Hatton in devastating fashion but I don’t see it He couldn’t put McGregor down and that’s what Khabib’s saying — you couldn’t put McGregor down, I put McGregor down — but [Mayweather] put McGregor down through fatigue and that was his game plan. McGregor was very, very tired and he started eating shots and in the end he couldn’t even fight back because he was so exhausted and kind of beat up so the referee stepped in. That wouldn’t happen against Khabib and Mayweather would probably embarrass him and light him up and pick him apart all night long but Khabib would probably go 12 rounds. Conor wasn’t far away from going 12 rounds.”
Daniel Cormier — Khabib’s fellow training partner — doesn’t agree, as he stated (albeit jokingly) that “The Eagle” would get schooled by Floyd to the point that he’d forget what sport they’re competing in.
Indeed, there were some who thought Conor wouldn’t be able to land a single punch on Floyd, but he did just that and even took the pound-for-pound best boxer longer than expected before getting stopped in the tenth round of their 12 round bout.
While Khabib has shown he has the cardio to go five rounds and not break stride, competing in an all-standup affair with one of the best to ever lace up boxing gloves is an entirely different beast.