Floyd Jr ‘offered McGregor $15M to fight’

FORMER welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr said on Wednesday that he was “interested” in a fight with Conor McGregor and had already offered the mixed martial arts star $15 million to climb into the ring with him.

Mayweather, who retired in 2015 w it h a per fe c t 49 - 0 record, told ESPN’s First Take prog ra m t hat a McGregor bout was the only thing that could tempt him to end his ex ile from t he ring.

T h e 3 9 - y e a r- o l d w a s re spond i ng to a quest ion about whether he would consider a rematch wit h Filipino star Manny Pacquiao following the duo’s much-hera lded “Fig ht of t he Cent ur y ” t wo years ago.

“Only thing I’m probably interested in is the Conor McGregor fight,” Mayweather said. “I’m a businessman and it makes busius i ness s e n s e . I believe in what at me and [ b u s i n e s s adviser] Al l H a y m o n talk about every day – I believe in working smarter, not ot harder.”

Mayweather her revealed initial talks with McGregor’s representativesives had taken place but t had stalled.

“We tried to make the Conor McGregor fight,” Mayweather said. “They know what my number is. My number is a guaranteed $100 million. That was my number.

“We We are willing to give him $15 million and then we can t a l k about splitting the percentage – t h e b a c k end – on the pay-per-v iew.

“But of course, we’re the ‘A side.’ How can a guy talk about making $20 or $30 million if he has never made $8 or $9 million in a fight?”

Mayweather appeared to suggest that McGregor’s recent comments calling for a fight were insincere.

“You guys keep hearing all these different rumours about different fighters want to face Floyd Mayweather,” he said.

“Everybody keeps talking about Conor McGregor. He’s blowing smoke up everybody’s ass. Dana White, the UFC – let’s make it happen. Bring him over to the boxing world and I’ll show him what it’s like.”

In November, McGregor challenged Mayweather to a fight under mixed martial arts rules and said he would only face Mayweather in a boxing ring for $100 million.

“Much respect to Floyd. He’s a solid businessman . . . as far as real fighting – true, pure unarmed combat – Floyd don’t want none of this,” McGregor said. “He does not want none of this. He wants it under boxing rules. He wants a boxing match. He doesn’t want a fight.

“Give Floyd a shout, tell him I’m coming. Tell him to run around Showtime offices. I want $100 million to fight him under boxing rules because he’s afraid of a real fight.”