Their war of words is escalating.
Floyd Mayweather has said that he will come out of retirement to fight Conor McGregor but only if he gets paid $100m and if ‘The Notorious’ is prepared to take $15m, plus a minor slice of the pay-per-view revenue.
Mayweather retired from boxing in September 2015, but has frequently teased and jostled with McGregor for months about any potential fight.
Speaking on ESPN’s First Take, Mayweather said the following: “We tried to make the Conor McGregor fight. They know what my number is. A guaranteed $100M. We’re the A side. I don’t know how much money Conor McGregor has made. I’m pretty sure he’s never even made 10 million in an MMA bout”, he said.
Regarding the potential purse on any fight between the pair, Mayweather had this to say: “We are willing to give him $15m and then we can talk about splitting the percentage, the back end percentage on pay per view. But of course, we’re the A side. You know how can a guy talk about 20 or 30 million when he’s never even made 8 or 9 million? I’m saying right here on this show, Conor McGregor keeps telling everybody he wants the fight. Let’s make it happen”, he said.
While any fight is a gross mismatch, and the fact that the CEO of Mayweather Promotions said that any fight with McGregor will never happen, ‘The Money’ reaffirmed that he’s strictly a businessman and that “the only thing that I’m probably interested in, is probably the Conor McGregor fight. I’m a business man and it makes more business sense.”
Here’s his interview in full.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6faO77wGUEU
Clip via – Vincent
After this announcement, McGregor instantly stoked the flames of their rivalry by sending out this message on Twitter.
Call me C.J Watson! https://t.co/9m2Omw4Wca pic.twitter.com/GZMzxxTsbb
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) January 11, 2017
In case you’re wondering, C.J Watson is a basketball player that’s currently playing for Orlando Magic. In 2010, rumours spread that Watson had a relationship with Josie Harris, Mayweather’s former long-term partner and mother to three of his four children.
In December 2011, Mayweather pleaded guilty to one count of battery domestic violence and no contest to two counts of harassment for hitting Harris. The boxer was then sentenced to 90 days in jail.
