Crawford is one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world and recently revealed that he turned down a huge two-fight offer go come up against Conor McGregor.
Crawford had said earlier this week that the fight was off the table after rejecting a huge $200 million, two-fight deal to lock horns with the Irishman. However, there are hints that stance might have changed and that American Crawford might now be tempted by such a deal.
During a recent live stream, UFC legend McGregor confirmed that the boxing champion turn down the opportunity to face him in two separate bouts. The talks didn’t advance because “Bud” had no interest in crossing over into the MMA world of fighting. McGregor has gone on record to say he believes Crawford is “slick” and mentioned his wrestling background as something he could seek to utilise in the a fight with him. McGregor also said he still believes he is the best boxer in MMA and has already fought a boxer, so this will be nothing new to him.
On the stream, McGregor said they had gone back and forth over the details of the deal, with the first fight being and MMA clash and the second being a boxing encounter. He said they are the matchmakers are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars being at stake so “what’s up?”. McGregor then said Crawford claimed he “doesn’t fancy” taking a kick from the UFC fighter and that was that.
Crawford’s Wrestling Background
Despite have dabbled in wrestling in the past, Crawford has made it abundantly clear he has no desire to step into a cage anytime soon. Crawford revealed he gave a simple “hell no” response when asked if he would consider taking on McGregor in an MMA bout.
The American was also keen to stress how much respect he has for McGregor and his discipline of fighting as a whole, but thinks the disadvantages both would face when stepping into the other’s world would be too great.
This is despite the vast, generational wealth that could be made from just two fights. Of course, both are already wealthy men in their own right, but $200 million is $200 million and all for two night’s work. That might have made a difference to Crawford’s thought process as the 37-year old boxer is now hinting as a possible U-turn in his decision to reject the initial two-fight offer.
In a response to a McGregor Instagram post in which the Irishman stated the terms of the deal and the amount of money that they would make for each, Crawford simply replied “tempted”.
Crawford More Active of the two
Crawford’s last bout was a win over Israil Madrimov to win the WBA Super Welterweight title. He was also given the WBO ‘interim’ title in the process and is now mandatory for the WBO and WBC titles, held by Sebastian Fundora. Both parties have been given until October 10th to decide purse bids and get a date confirmed for that fight.
It has been well documented how much time McGregor has spent away from fighting. His last bout was in 2021 at UFC 264, where he suffered a broken leg in a first-round defeat to Dustin Poirier.
