By Ryan Burton
Sam's Town Hotel & Gambling Hall, Las Vegas, NV - BoxingScene.com and a small group of media members caught up with Mayweather Promotion's CEO Leonard Ellerbe during their latest Sin City series fight card. In the main event Ashley Theophane notched his 40th victory with an unanimous decision victory over Yakubu Amidu.
The boxing and mixed martial arts world were set a buzz last week when UFC superstar Conor McGregor obtained a license to box in California. McGregor and Floyd Mayweather have been linked to a potential fantasy boxing match for several months.
And even though Mayweather is retired, he has also been linked to a potential rematch with Manny Pacquiao - and middleweight kingpin Gennady Golovkin's coach Abel Sanchez has said on several occasions that his charge would be willing to go down to 154 pounds to face the former pound-for-pound king.
Ellerbe isn't surprised that even though Mayweather has been out of the ring for over a year that he is still dominating headlines.
"That's what happens when you are a mega superstar. He has put in that work and crossed over into the main stream world many many years ago and elevated himself and anytime, people always are speaking on his name. He stays relevant," Ellerbe stated.
As far as McGregor goes, Ellerbe made his position loud and clear when he spoke to ESPN.com last week and said that the fight isn't happening and also pointed out that three fights ago, McGregor tapped out against Nate Diaz. He feels that McGregor should worry about himself.
Many boxing and MMA insiders feel that McGregor's true motives are to get a better deal with the UFC and he recently said that he wants an ownership stake in the organization.
After hearing about Ellerbe's statements, McGregor lashed out.
"F*** Floyd's manager, f*** Floyd's manager. Tell him to come say it to my face. I've got the boxing license, now Floyd is in the Bahamas. He was just here a minute ago. And I get the boxing license he's gone," McGregor told the press back home in Belfast, Ireland.
"I have the boxing license. Now I have the boxing license. It's their move now. Since I got the boxing license, Floyd's manager has come out and said 'oh Floyd is in the Bahamas, he doesn't care about Conor now.' Well I don't give a f*** about Floyd either. If you don't want this fight, then no problem. Other than the Floyd and Manny Pacquiao pay-per-view numbers, gate numbers - I hold all the numbers. I don't need Floyd. I do not need him. I have the boxing license."
Whatever his true intentions are, Ellerbe isn't interested.
"I said what I needed to say. My message was very clear. He spoke on some things and it's really, it really is none of my business what he's got going on. I could care less," Ellerbe told BoxingScene.com.
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