Matchroom Sport director Eddie Hearn has admitted he'd struggle to promote a potential fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor on Sky Sports from a moral standpoint, as he'd be uncomfortable lying about it being a good fight.
Hearn was speaking with Kugan Cassius of IFL TV about the prospective 'superfight', and while frequently laughing, was conspicuously disturbed by the concept of a man with such a relative dearth of boxing ability taking on the finest boxer of the past two decades.
Hearn admitted the fight would likely be Sky Sports' third-biggest ever pay-per-view event behind Joshua-Klitschko and Mayweather-Pacquiao, largely due to its taking place in the early hours of the morning on this side of the Atlantic.
Hearn told IFL:
Hearn: Mayweather-Pacquiao did 1.15 million, but in my opinion [Mayweather-McGregor] isn't as big. No, it's not as big. I think it does 700,000 buys.
But still... That's so hard, that fight, isn't it? Because, with my boxing heart on, I have to say...it ain't great, is it? It's not, is it? Like, Conor McGregor is an absolute genius, right? I mean, he's an unbelievable MMA fighter, he's just such a great personality, he's very, very clever. But as a boxer, the reality is...I keep saying this to trainers, like, 'What level would Conor McGregor be if he was a pro boxer?'
Cassius: Would Conor McGregor beat Sam Eggington (EBU European champion from Birmingham)?
Hearn: NO WAY! NO WAY!!! But take it back a little bit: would Conor McGregor win a Midlands Area title? Like, I think the answer is 'possibly'. So therefore, what you're doing is putting Floyd Mayweather in with - and no disrespect - even some of our guys. Like... Ted Cheeseman (World no. 123), yeah? Light-middleweight. Would he beat Conor McGregor in a fight? One hundred per cent. So then, you're talking about Cheeseman in with Floyd. You know?
Like the guys on at the Copperbox who had that good fight (Joe Pigford and Aaron Morgan), that was light-middleweight, wasn't it? Would those boys beat Conor McGregor? Yes, I believe they would. So [it's like] Joe Pigford in with Floyd Mayweather.
The Matchroom head honcho then provided an extremely honest assessment as to how he'd be uncomfortable selling the fight to Sky Sports were they to land the broadcast rights, admitting he's 'not shy on the bullshit', but would find it difficult building the fight up to be something it patently won't transpire to be:
But, at the same time, [Mayweather-McGregor] is a motherfucking huge event. So...(sighs)...How can you turn down an event that, according to you, is going to do over a million pay-per-view buys?
But how do you sell that? How do you sell that event? Because I have to be honest - listen, you know me, I'm not shy on the bullshit - but I can't out-and-out lie to you. I can never come on and go, 'What a fight this is going to be!'
It's intriguing, because you just don't know how bad it's going to be.
You can watch Hearn's assessment from the 15-minute mark below.
