Five-weight boxing world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr revealed he has offered the UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor $15m (£12.2m) to face him in the ring during his appearance on ESPN show First Take.
however, after hearing Mayweather namedrop him on the show, McGregor fired back on social media by posting a tweet referring to the boxing star’s history of domestic violence.
Call me C.J Watson! https://t.co/9m2Omw4Wca pic.twitter.com/GZMzxxTsbb
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) January 11, 2017
Back in 2010 text messages from NBA star C.J Watson reportedly upset Mayweather, prior to the boxer’s assault of girlfriend at the time and mother of his three, Josie Harris. This all became clear three years later when Mayweather was sentenced to 90 days in jail for the assault.
Mayweather who retired unbeaten in 2015 told ESPN a bout with Irishman McGregor; who has been granted a boxing license by the California State Athletic Commission, was the only thing that could tempt him back to the sport, claiming: “I’m a businessman and it makes business sense.”
During his appearance on First Take, Mayweather mentioned his on-going negotiations with McGregor regarding a potential mega-fight, which could see the former boxing champion come out of retirement. The 39-year-old’s last fight was back in September 2015 where he secured a win over Andre Berto before retiring from the sport with a perfect record of 49-0.
“You guys keep hearing all these different rumours about different fighters want to face Floyd Mayweather,” he said. “Everybody keeps talking about Conor McGregor. He’s blowing smoke up everybody’s ass. Dana White, the UFC, let’s make it happen. Bring him over to the boxing world, and I’ll show him what it’s like.”
The American once again spoke of his demands of $100m guaranteed before offering McGregor $15m (12.2m) and a cut of the pay-per-view.
“We tried to make the Conor McGregor fight,” Mayweather said. “They know what my number is. My number is a guaranteed $100m. That was my number. We are willing to give him $15 million, and then we can talk about splitting the percentage, the back end on the pay-per-view. But of course, we’re the ‘A side.’ How can a guy talk about making 20 or 30 million if he has never made 8 or 9 million in a fight.”
McGregor who became the UFC’s first dual-weight champion in November has also set a price tag of $100m to fight Mayweather under boxing rules. Both men will be risking a lot if this potential fight materializes, however neither men are used to compromising when it comes to money. So for now this fight is a long way from happening, but the story is definitely worth keeping an eye on.
