There may be more substance to the rumours than we thought.
Whispers circulated last week that Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor held talks with a view to fighting in the ring. We called bullshit on it, firstly because 'world exclusives' from The Sun deserve less a pinch and more a full bag of salt, secondly because of the chasm between the fighter's earnings: Mayweather's 100 million versus seven million for McGregor, and it would not be possible under the terms of McGregor's contract with the UFC.
Furthermore, Dana White, the man who is forced to wearily comment every time McGregor sends a tweet, has said that it cannot happen:
It's not true; it's just a tabloid story. And as far as I knew, Floyd is retired and he's been on a world-wide vacation and hasn't even been thinking of fighting.
So it remains something that is highly unlikely to happen.
But then a few strange things all happened. This appeared on McGregor's twitter feed hinting he'd at least seen the rumours...
MMA Vs Boxing. pic.twitter.com/qgl8tKvT5s
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) May 8, 2016
This is obviously absolutely zero basis for an opinion on the likelihood of the fight. But then Mayweather's camps seemed to hint that discussions had taken place.
Floyd Mayweather's father was interviewed by ES News at Amir Khan's fight in Vegas last night, where he confirmed his son has held talks with "some kind of MMA fighter". This is almost certainly McGregor, and went on to say that Mayweather would "whoop him. He's dead". Watch from around a minute below:
Mayweather himself told fighthype.com that a fight was possible:
It’s possible. It was a name that was shot at me. The rumours that you all have been hearing are the rumours that I started. It may not be a rumour. So keep your fingers crossed, it may be a boxer vs an MMA fighter.
Call us sceptical though. Between a leading US boxing journalist called the proposed 'absolute bullshit', and McGregor's legal binding with the UFC as outlined by Dana White this can't be happening. It would seem interest is real. Surely, surely, surely not?
