The MMA vs. boxing debate is showing no sign of easing up.
Following the return of [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] at UFC 246, it seems there are plenty of notable names from the world of boxing who fancy jumping aboard the McGregor gravy train.
During fight week for McGregor’s comeback, both Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao posted mock fight posters pitching themselves with McGregor, while McGregor himself said he’d be interested in facing either man inside the boxing ring.
But perhaps the most intriguing proposition to date was floated on Sunday by veteran boxing promoter Bob Arum, who suggested undefeated WBO 147-pound champion Terence Crawford would be interested in a doubleheader with McGregor. But unlike most of the other boxing vs. MMA callouts we’ve seen, Arum says Crawford will face McGregor inside the octagon first.
Speaking to reporters after the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder news conference, the Top Rank supremo said they wanted to give McGregor a fair shake by facing him in his realm first, then hosting the rematch in the boxing ring.
“It’s not fair to the UFC and to Conor McGregor to say, ‘Well, let him fight this fighter, that fighter, but only in boxing’ – because he’s a good athlete, Conor McGregor, but he’s not a boxer. He’s a mixed martial arts guy,” Arum said.
“So I’m saying, ‘OK. Let’s test it out.’ Terence Crawford will do McGregor in the octagon, and then three months later they can do it in the boxing ring. The octagon would be first because I don’t want them to think we’re playing around. Let the octagon be first, because Terence Crawford is a really tough dude who has a wrestling background, so it’s not like a guy like Mayweather who’s just a great boxer and would be lost, pretty much, in the octagon. Crawford would not be lost in the octagon because he comes from a wrestling background. He is, I think, a world-class wrestler. So let’s see. Let them take the challenge. I think it would be massive.”
[lawrence-related id=483957,483224,482303]
So far, so intriguing. But then, just as it sounded like Arum may have actually given the situation serious thought, he went and undid his good work somewhat when he was asked if he thought if Crawford could knock out McGregor inside the octagon.
“Yeah, that’s possible,” he said, before offering, bizarrely, “I wouldn’t be surprised if Crawford pins McGregor in an MMA fight. I really mean that. I think Crawford’s a better wrestler than McGregor is.”
We can’t be fully sure, but we think Arum’s short spell helping promote Tyson Fury’s recent WWE appearance may still be a little too fresh in his mind. But, casting Arum’s apparent lack of MMA knowledge to one side, his proposition certainly seems to be more interesting than many boxing vs. MMA callouts we’ve heard in the past.
And you can bet it hasn’t gone unnoticed by a certain Irishman. Whether McGregor sees Crawford as a big enough box office draw – despite his obvious boxing credentials – is another matter. The WBO welterweight champion’s win over Britain’s Amir Khan reportedly drew just 150,000 pay-per-view buys.
Arum certainly seems keen, though.
“Let’s test this out. But you’ve got to fight the guy on his ground if you expect him to fight on your ground, and that’s what we propose,” he said before admitting he hadn’t spoken to UFC president Dana White about the idea.
“No, you don’t talk to Dana White about it. You let Dana White read about it and hear about it, and then if he’s interested, he’ll know how to contact us. The answer is we haven’t talked to him. We have some people who talk to Dana White, but I haven’t.”
[opinary poll=”how-interested-are-you-in-a-possible-mcg” customer=”mmajunkie”]
[vertical-gallery id=481635]