Mayweather Productions CEO: Mayweather-McGregor boxing match won't happen
The CEO of Mayweather Promotions says that a fight between UFC champion Conor McGregor and retired boxing world champion Floyd Mayweather will never happen.
McGregor was issued a boxing license in California this week after giving up his featherweight title following his lightweight title win in November.
McGregor has said he wants at least $100 million for a potential bout with Mayweather.
Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe said that a matchup between Mayweather and McGregor will never happen, and that McGregor getting a boxing license is a "game" and a "calculated effort to gain more fans."
"What McGregor is attempting to do is take a page out of Floyd's book from the marketing and promotional side by using his name," Ellerbe said to ESPN. "The quickest way to become famous is to align yourself with another famous person, and he's done a good job of that."
McGregor (21–3) won the UFC's lightweight belt after beating Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 on Nov. 12, thus becoming the first UFC fighter to hold two titles simultaneously.
"The brass [from WME-IMG] who recently purchased the UFC [for $4 billion earlier this year] are very smart people and they would never—and put this in bold caps—let him step into a boxing ring with Floyd Mayweather because everyone knows what the outcome would be," Ellerbe said. "He would get his ass beat from pillar to post."
Mayweather (49–0, 26 KOs) has not fought since beating Andre Berto in September 2015. Boxing promoter Bob Arum said recently that WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao could fight in a rematch with Mayweather in the spring and put the chances of that happening at 75%.
– Scooby Axson
