Over the past year, the sport of boxing has gone through something of a resurgence. Bouts like Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko and Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin made sure that the world of pugilism had tentpole events to draw eyes, while Conor McGregor’s bout with Floyd Mayweather garnered more global attention that any other fight in history.
And while McGregor came away second best on that night, he did enough in the early stages of the contest to earn plenty of praise and appreciation from sports fans. Certainly, boxing legend George Foreman believes McGregor can walk away with his head held high.
Speaking on the What’s the Story podcast, Foreman showered the Irishman with compliments, revealing he was stunned at how far Mayweather had to dig in order to emerge victorious.
“I’d like to see that McGregor come back and fight another boxer,” Foreman said. “Get him another few rounds under his belt and beat one so he can really do some good. Everybody else is dead. The only problem was the twelve rounds. He really whipped Mayweather, he had him whipped. Mayweather had to turn into an old George Foreman/Joe Frazier fighter to get it. Ducking his head, all bald headed and everything.
“He didn’t have the stuff to beat him — he couldn’t outbox him. He couldn’t box him, he had to fight him. So McGregor, going twelve rounds is like a death sentence. Even the fighters can’t do it. But if he had some more experience, in twelve rounds? He could beat a great fighter.”
With that being said, should McGregor elect to step through the ring ropes once again, would Foreman be interested in offering the UFC champion some advice and training tips?
“Surely I would,” Foreman said. “Surely. McGregor, all he needed was George Foreman in his corner telling him, ‘hold up, hold up, hold up’. Don’t go for the rope-a-dope, let him rest a little bit.”
“He beat Mayweather, the first few rounds, Mayweather couldn’t do anything with him. I’m amazed at that. To this day, I’m still amazed. Mayweather had to turn into Joe Frazier/George Foreman to beat him.”
