Mark Henry is the longtime boxing coach for former UFC Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez, who recently dropped the title to Conor McGregor at UFC 205. Despite the loss, Henry had praise in regards to McGregor's skills.
Henry, after witnessing the striking prowess that McGregor put on at the event, is a firm believer that McGregor can beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the boxing ring.
"You cannot teach somebody how to swing like that," Henry said on The Luke Thomas Show. "It takes hips, it takes a certain shoulder, it takes a flick of the wrist, there are so many tiny mechanics. What it takes to make an eyeball work is what it takes to make the perfect swing. Like Babe Ruth. I just compare Conor – his swing – to Babe Ruth. I always watch tape of it but to be that close and watch it was a whole other thing. It comes along once in a lifetime or once every hundred years or what not. I think God has just blessed him with a swing that I'll probably never see again. Before this fight, I would highly doubt him fighting Mayweather, but I think this dude can take out Mayweather. I'm not even joking."
If this dream match were to come to fruition down the line, Henry doesn’t believe that McGregor can just beat Mayweather Jr. — he believes the UFC champion can knock him out.
"I don't know if it went [long] but I could easily see him knocking anybody out. Like I said, it's like a Babe Ruth swing. There's so many little things that you need to make it work, like even if you lean a little forward too much or you don't turn your hips at the exact time. Also too, his range. He knows his range so well. A punch could be an inch – less than that – seven centimeters from his face and he won't pull his head back at times because he knows it's not gonna hit. So a lot of times he'll slide back his head and counter, but if you don't slide back your head, the punch comes even faster and there's time he won't even slip back his head because he knows it's not gonna hit him. And not even that, to go farther. Like that last four-punch combination he threw on Eddie, to know where his head is gonna be on all four moves. He just knows way ahead of time where you're gonna be. So many different things go into what he's doing. His eyes are so focused to just know where somebody's head is gonna be or tricking somebody where their head is gonna be, setting it up with your feet. What he does is just incredible,” said Henry.
Henry stated that Mayweather Jr. has great defense, but either way, he believes that McGregor could still defeat the boxing great.
"Mayweather's so good with his defense but Conor's so dang precise. Eddie is such an incredible athlete and Eddie is such a veteran and Eddie's resume – he's fought and beat all world champions. Eddie's incredible. But it's just so many different things. How precise he is, the power that he has…Just his pure swing. When you see it up close it's even more impressive,” Henry said.
McGregor’s next move is not yet set in stone, as the UFC Lightweight Champion and UFC Featherweight Champion is expecting his first child in 2017.
