If you want to know how little of a chance the supposed Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor boxing fight has of happening, look no further than the words of Leonard Ellerbe.
Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather Promotions, dismissed the possibility of Floyd fighting McGregor in a boxing match despite McGregor filing for a boxing license in California. He says a number of factors go into the decision, beginning with McGregor’s lack of qualifications as a boxer, and ending with the trouble the Irishman would have in getting the UFC’s approval for a fight.
“He’s a very good MMA fighter, give credit where it’s due,” Ellerbe told ESPN’s Dan Rafael. “It’s kind of played out now. Just stop it. The con game is over. Go out there and worry about dominating the UFC because three fights ago he lost, he was quitting. You couldn’t even mention the word quit with Floyd Mayweather. And, like I said, [McGregor] can’t do anything without the UFC’s approval. There’s no way [WME-IMG] spent all that money so they can get their biggest star killed. It would never happen. If they want to get him killed put him in there in a boxing match.”
McGregor is under contract with the UFC, which means he likely would not be able to fight without their permission. However, he could try to fight Mayweather in a state other than Nevada, and then he would likely face a breach of contract lawsuit from the UFC. He could try to get creative a bring up the Ali Act, but that would be challenging.
Ultimately, if you believe what Ellerbe is saying, then McGregor is mostly just using Mayweather’s name to build some hype and continue promoting himself. After all, one of McGregor’s goals is to eventually become a promoter similar to what Mayweather did, and what better way to generate buzz than by suggesting a fight everyone would love to see?
