Promoter Eddie Hearn, who works on a fight by fight basis with undisputed super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, came close to exploring the possibility of a showdown with UFC superstar Conor McGregor.
Back in 2017, McGregor made his boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The event became a monster financial success, with a massive 4.3 million buys on pay-per-view – the second highest PPV buyrate in history.
Last month, McGregor stated that he saw exploitable holes in Canelo’s performance against John Ryder.
“I’m a southpaw, John Ryder’s a southpaw, Billy Joe Saunders is a southpaw – I’ve seen methods. I’ve seen things I do, and I know he’s waning. And I’d fight Canelo, no f——- problem,” McGregor stated.
Canelo was approached with those comments and gave a brutal assessment on McGregor’s chances in such a fight.
“The truth is I haven’t seen what he said because I don’t have my social networks on my phone right now, but I’ll beat him with one hand on his back,” Canelo stated.
Those comments drew the rage of McGregor on social media.
“Canelo you little ginger sausage. I’d beat you with NO HANDS. Don’t forget,” McGregor wrote.
Hearn, who is also friends with McGregor, nearly phoned Canelo and manager Eddy Reynoso to discuss the possibility of exploring that fight.
While not as big as Mayweather-McGregor, Hearn believes the contest would do serious business on pay-per-view.
“I nearly reached out to Eddy Reynoso and Saul [Canelo] about it and [UFC President] Dana White. Listen if the money’s there. I nearly messaged Dana, maybe I will after this interview. I mean they’ve done Floyd against McGregor, they saw how big that was. With Saul, you’ve got that whole Hispanic fanbase, you’ve got McGregor’s fanbase. I mean it’s massive, but who knows,” Hearn told Boxing Social.