By Keith Idec

Count Freddie Roach among those convinced talk of a Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor boxing match is more than just a publicity stunt.

The International Boxing Hall of Fame trainer told Bas Rutten and Mauro Ranallo during a segment for “Inside MMA” that Mayweather came to his Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood last week and asked Roach to train McGregor for their fight. The phone interview aired Friday night on AXS TV.

“There’s a lot of rumors out there and I’m getting constant calls that Conor asked me to train him,” Roach said. “But they’re not true. He has not called me yet. But Mayweather did come by my gym last week and he asked me to take that job if it’s offered to me, because he told me the fight is gonna happen and we’re gonna make a lot of money.”

Roach didn’t say whether he would train McGregor if asked. He stressed, however, that Ireland’s McGregor is nowhere near ready to challenge the best boxer in the world in a 12-round boxing match.

“As I told Mayweather, I said, ‘It would take me three years, at least, to get him ready to fight you,” Roach said. “I don’t think it’s really possible for an MMA fighter to fight a boxer, or I don’t think it’s really even fair. Depending on what rules you fight under, one person has a tremendous advantage. So Mayweather would out-box him I think all day long. Conor McGregor seems like a tough guy and all that, but being a tough guy really doesn’t help you in boxing.”

Though rumors of the fight taking place September 17 in Las Vegas have circulated this week, Roach added that Mayweather (49-0, 26 KOs) didn’t mention a potential date for a McGregor bout.

“No, he did not give me a date,” Roach said. “And then I went to Russia the next day with [Denis] Lebedev. [Mayweather] did come back [to the Wild Card Boxing Club] to see me when I was in Russia, but I haven’t seen him since. But there was no date discussed at all, no.

“But I do know he’s training at the Wild Card West, which is one of my gyms on the west side [in Santa Monica], and he’s sparring with a couple of my professional fighters over there. And I hear he’s, umm, not doing that well with my professionals.”

Despite what he has heard about the 39-year-old Mayweather’s sparring sessions at Wild Card West, Roach can’t envision the retired five-division champion having any difficulty with McGregor in a boxing match UFC president Dana White repeatedly has said won’t happen. The 27-year-old McGregor was an amateur boxer, but never has competed in a professional boxing match.

“Mayweather is the best boxer in the world and I think he just would absolutely not even lose a round against a guy with Conor’s experience,” Roach said. “He looks like an OK boxer. He’s a very good MMA fighter. But the thing is, this is boxing and the thing is he’s just kind of a beginner in boxing. And again, it probably would take me almost three years to get him ready for a fight against a guy like Mayweather. I was hoping Mayweather was gonna come and ask Manny for a rematch, but that didn’t come true.”

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.