UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jr. may be stepping inside the ring against each other later this year.
Although the fight has yet to be officially announced, the champions longtime coach in John Kavanagh says they are training like the fight is a go.
“In my mind, it’s on,” Kavanagh said to Fox Sports Australia. “That’s the mentality we’re in. Like you said, there’s a lot of fingers in the pie on this one. There’s different promotions, different organizations, different commissions that are involved, but as far as I’m concerned, I really believe it’s going to happen this year, and that’s the mindset I have. Let the people in the suits worry about the paperwork. We’re training for it.”
Rumors have suggested that the super fight could happen this September, but nothing is confirmed at this time.
Kavanagh knows that McGregor is facing one of the greatest boxers of all time, and they are preparing accordingly for that.
“Boxing is one of the 10 skills you need for mixed martial arts, but now we’re only doing boxing, so we can drop wrestling and jiu-jitsu and Thai boxing – we can just focus on the boxing,” Kavanagh said. “So, of course we’re getting ready to fight arguably one of the best defensive boxers of all time, but the training will become simplified because we only have to do boxing so, you know, it’s a new challenge I’m excited about.”
McGregor hasn’t competed since winning the lightweight title at UFC 205, while Mayweather Jr. has been retired for over a year now.
