Conor McGregor has only fought once in 2020 so far. That’s despite saying that he was going to treat this year as a season. However, a clash with Justin Gaethje appears to be on the horizon. This would be a lightweight title eliminator with the winner going on to fight the winner of Khabib v Tony Ferguson.
Assuming that fight ever happens that is. However, MMA isn’t McGregor’s only love. He’s also a big fan of boxing. He famously fought Floyd Mayweather in, eventually losing by a late TKO. Now John Kavanagh says he wants to box again.
The SBG Ireland head coach spoke to Gareth Davies and explained their future plans. Long story short, they want to make a lot more money.
Boxing Match
Kavanagh has been McGregor’s mentor from the start of his MMA career. He has every faith in his star pupil and believes that he wants to box again. The sweet science is so lucrative, it’s really not that surprising. However, it would have to be the right opponent because McGregor is such a big name too. Kavanagh told Davies:
“I’d honestly be surprised if Conor doesn’t have a boxing match in the next 12-18 months. He loves boxing. He loved the training for the Mayweather fight. It has to be something big, whatever he does seems to always get bigger. He’s always looking for that next step up.”
Manny Pacquiao is the main name in contention. That’s because Paradigm have taken over his management, meaning that he’s now under the same umbrella as the Irishman. Could a clash between McGregor and another combat sports legend go down?
Highlight Reel
However, Kavanagh has his eye on MMA first. Ireland’s first-ever BJJ black belt believes that Justin Gaethje is the perfect opponent for McGregor to fight next. In short, he believes it would be a real crowd-pleaser.
“At the moment, definitely top of the list for me would be Justin Gaethje. I think it is a very interesting, stylistic match-up. Justin really believes in his striking ability, really believes in his power. He also has a quick-ish stop of Cerrone.
“I think there would be some great exchanges, a lot of forward pressure from Gaethje and Conor thrives under that so in the summer or something like that, that’s what I’d love to see. We know Gaethje won’t take a back step and Conor will meet him in the middle, it would be fireworks.”
Next Up?
Owen Roddy confirmed the fight is in their minds. The striking coach has been with McGregor from the beginning and he believes it would be the ideal match-up. First of all, the coronavirus situation needs to be dealt with. Then he can concentrate on his future plans.
Most definitely. That’s the plan hopefully,” Roddy said. “Bring the UFC back to life as well with all these shows being canceled and stuff like that, I think a fight on July 11 would bring the UFC back to life and get everybody back on track. So my fingers are crossed and I’m sure the rest of the world’s fingers are crossed for that fight.”
Who do you think would win in a fight between McGregor and Gaethje? The bookmakers have McGregor as an early favorite but Gaethje is no walk in the park for anybody. In short, it would be a very intriguing match-up. Let’s hope that we see both men in action soon.
