By Rick Reeno
UFC champion Conor McGregor created worldwide headlines on Wednesday, when it was revealed that the MMA superstar had obtained a boxing license in the state of California. McGregor also made an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a license to box in Nevada.
For the majority of 2016, there has been a lot of talk - mostly from McGregor - about boxing five division world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr., who retired from the sport in September 2015.
The possibility of that fight taking place is very unlikely - but not because of McGregor or Mayweather. McGregor is under an exclusive contract with the UFC. He can't fight Mayweather or anyone else without the UFC's involvement and approval. McGregor is by far the biggest superstar in the UFC's roster and there is almost no scenario where they would allow him to enter a situation where he - as the face of their company - could possibly be embarrassed.
Former two-division world champion Paulie Malignaggi is shocked that there are people who believe McGregor can be competitive with Mayweather in a boxing match.
Malignaggi, who openly admits that he's past his prime, is very confident of embarrassing and outclassing McGregor in a straight boxing match. According to Malignaggi, he would outbox McGregor so badly that nobody would ever dare mention the MMA star in the same sentence with the sport of boxing.
"I already said that Conor McGregor can't even beat Peter Cards in a boxing match. People actually assume that he can box. He can't box. He's got a little bit of karate, he's got some skills and he adapts in the cage very well I give him credit - but he's not a boxer, he can't box. What's funny is you have enough people who will buy into this bullsh*t [that McGregor can box], so it's up to me to really save people's time from being wasted in the Mayweather fight," Malignaggi told BoxingScene.com.
"You are wasting your time making a fight between him and Mayweather. I will do everyone a favor and kick this guy's ass so bad that he'll never even look at another pair of boxing gloves again without getting nightmares. He'll know where his place should be. I know that my place should not be in the cage and he should know that his place should be in the ring."
"Conor McGregor has become so big that people are actually in denial about the fact that he can't box. We will make this fight and there will be people who actually think that he can beat me - which is a joke, it's comical. He's going to make me look like I'm 25-years-old. He's going to make me look like I'm in my prime when I'm past my prime - that's what's comical to me."
