Carl Frampton on Conor McGregor: 'The Jackal' has given his two cents' worth on Conor McGregor acquiring a boxing license for California and rumours that he will fight Floyd Mayweather.
Yesterday the rumour mill went into overdrive when news broke that Conor McGregor had been issued with a boxing license for the state of California. The conclusion drawn was that McGregor was doing this in order to potentially set up a highly lucrative boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, though the CEO of Mayweather Promotions called it nothing more than a "con job".
One man who knows what it takes to succeed in a boxing ring is Belfast's Carl Frampton. 'The Jackal' unified the super bantamweight and featherweight world titles this year and has been promoting his re-match with Leo Santa Cruz at the latter weight which will take place on January 28th.
Frampton was asked about McGregor's move to acquire a license by a reporter from 'TMZ' and replied:
He's almost, like, sticking the fingers up to the UFC. Fair play to him!
As for McGregor's boxing skills, Frampton said that with time, McGregor could potentially acquit himself well in the ring - and said he would enjoy trying to help McGregor hone his skills.
Well, we don't know yet (about his boxing ability) because we haven't seen it. But give him a year or so and who knows, but he comes from a boxing background so why not? You can see it in the UFC in how he fights. He stands up and punches a lot, and he can obviously punch pretty hard.
I'd love to (train with him), I'd love to do that and help him out if I could, he's someone I admire a lot.
But the Belfast man stopped short of saying that McGregor would stand a chance against 'Money' Mayweather.
TMZ: Bob Arum, boxing writer, says he stands no chance versus a 'real boxer'.
CF: It depends who you're talking about, what type of 'real boxer' you're talking about, you know? But give him a year or so...
TMZ: You think he can hang in there with Mayweather?
CF: No one can. No one can hang with Mayweather, not in boxing.
TMZ: Not even McGregor?
CF: No.
The questioner then moves to ask Frampton about McGregor's status in Ireland, and the two men he names gives an interesting insight into which Irish are considered top of the tree in celebrity terms.
Bono won't be happy.
TMZ: Has McGregor now overtaken Liam Neeson and Colin Farrell as Ireland's biggest celebrity?
CF: Yeah. Definitely.
