Floyd Mayweather is preparing for his fiftieth professional boxing fight as he faces UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor this August.
Bellator MMA fighter Chael Sonnen believes that Mayweather isn’t just looking for win number fifty against McGregor, but he is also defending the integrity of boxing.
“If this ends any other way but quickly and decisively for Floyd, the entire integrity of the sport of boxing is on the line,” he said on The MMA Hour. “I’m an amateur wrestler. I was an amateur boxer too. I love boxing, but I’m cognitive enough to tell you from my wrestling days that if you bring in an athlete—I don’t care how good he was or how successful he was in his field—and you put him against our best wrestler, there is no chance possible chance that it goes 30 seconds. And I’m only saying 30 seconds incase the wrestler wants to stop and tie his shoes. That match is over. Now you’ve got people from the boxing world saying Conor can win. You’ve got other people speculating that it’s going to go twelve rounds. The entire integrity of a fringe sport (is on the line). Don’t forget there is no a high school in this country that recognizes boxing as a real sport. The NCAA will not contest it and people think that’s because it’s a dangerous sport. The NCAA doesn’t see it as a sport. The only body with any kind of integrity that still recognizes it and contests it is the International Olympic Committee (IOC), then you have all of these different commissions. This is the entire integrity of the sport versus Conor McGregor.”
Mayweather is fight for the aforementioned fiftieth time against McGregor, while the Irishman fights for the first time as a professional boxer.
Sonnen also believes that his fellow MMA fighter stands no chance against the boxing great.
“Are you kidding me? None. Zero,” he said about McGregor’s chances.
Conor McGregor versus Floyd Mayweather takes place on Saturday, August 26 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
