WHO WILL WELCOME MCGREGOR BACK TO BOXING?

The revolutionary crossover of boxing and MMA was co-founded by the former two-weight division title holder Conor McGregor. Since his explosive victory against Donald Cerrone on the 19th, the 31-year old’s name has been closely followed by speculation of him returning to the ring.

McGregor told the world in the UFC 246 post fight presser that “the rematch [with Floyd Mayweather] will happen at some point”. Despite this announcement, there has not yet been official confirmation of this taking place. Furthermore, other boxers continue to display their eagerness to welcome McGregor back to the ring which, for now, proves there are still other possibilities for the Irishman. But if not ‘Money May’ then who?

Terence Crawford is not only a possible option to host the second MMA/Boxing crossover fight, but he is a worthy one at that. The undefeated boxer holds the WBO world welterweight title therefore fulfilling McGregor’s desire to “become world champion in one fight”. Speculation started when Crawford’s promotor Bob Arum hypothesised a two-fight deal with his and UFC’s man. The special detail that makes this matchup more exciting is in this deal, one of the fights will be in the octagon as well as the ring. This will certainly make McGregor’s head turn as it was something that he wanted but never cemented in the fight deal with Mayweather.

In addition to this, fans may be bored of the limitations McGregor faces by just jumping in the ring as last time it proved to harvest a very one-sided result. So, if Crawford was to jump into the octagon that would be another ground breaking event as it is unseen in the boxing world. Arum seemed content on proposing his fighter spends what would be a scheduled 25 minutes in the MMA world due to Crawford’s rich wrestling background. However, the Top Rank founder made fans question if he really does know what he is getting his Nebraska native champion into as he claims Crawford could “pin” McGregor, a term associated with Professional wrestling and separate to these two sports. The promotor also admitted that he has not been in talks with UFC Dana White yet which has to be done in order to secure a fight deal.

The most convincing factor that suggests to fight fans the UFC icon may look for other options is the finance and fame difference. Crawford is worthy to face McGregor in ability, but when it comes to putting ‘bums on seats’ and gaining an outrageous pay check at the end of the night, he isn’t the man. His personal best PPV event was his triumph over Amir Khan which hit a disappointing 150,000 as well as his biggest pay check peaking at 3.6 million dollars. These numbers are levels below McGregor’s boastful 2.4 million PPV sales not to mention his first crossover bout with Mayweather earning him 85 million dollars. The biggest problem this poses is that Crawford’s low recognition from the casual boxing or MMA follower takes a toll on the numbers a second sporting crossover could potentially produce.

If Mayweather was unable to seal a deal for a rematch, Manny Pacquiao seems the most likely to go to war with McGregor. The eight-weight division champion is entering his 25th year of boxing and has just about done it all so this may be the only incentive to keep him in the ring. In his interview with Ariel Helwani, McGregor unexpectedly admitted “We were close to signing [Pacquiao]”. This line gained mass attention as the Irishman gives key information away in this interview. Although it is not established what the “signing” is for whether it is another in-the-ring contest or something different in an octagon. What it does confirm however is that the UFC and Pac-man have been in talks.

Similar to Mayweather, Pacquiao released an unofficial fight poster with him and the ‘Notorious’ one on the front. One detail that was picked up from this poster was that the issued venue is the Allegiant stadium currently under construction soon to be home of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders. This was mentioned to McGregor and he took the idea positively stating “I would love to be the first combatant in that stadium”. This teases what would be a fantastic spectacle at a grand venue. As to any fight deal though, there are setbacks. The MMA star was quick to state “not yet” to the fight happening in the near future. This will raise eyebrows as Pacquiao is a decade older than McGregor and will no doubt be looking to retire soon which adds a sense of urgency to making this fight happen. To further dampen the spark of excitement that this matchup produces, McGregor seems like he has been swaying more towards the rematch than a fight with the Philippine legend. He spends more interview time pondering a rematch with ‘Money May’ than he does flirting with a potential match against Pacquiao. After all, he verbally confirmed a rematch with Mayweather “will happen”

These seem to be two tantalising matchups for McGregor that venture outside of his historic past with Mayweather. Much to a number of fans’ anguish though, the 42-year-old still seems to be the frontrunner for the opponent that ‘mystic mac’ may face when returning to his boxing career. Dana White is in constant talks with the Michigan boxer and has informed fans that they are “working together to put on an event in 2020”. Regardless of opponent, there is no doubt McGregor will be putting the ‘purse’ into ‘pursue’ as he will retrieve another outstanding pay check by going forward with his boxing endeavours.
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Author – Max Taylor