Conor McGregor's Ex-Sparring Partner Thinks He Doesn't Have a Chance Against Floyd Mayweather

Chris van Heerden, a former sparring partner for Conor McGregor, thinks that he has no shot whatsoever against Floyd Mayweather.

Conor McGregor (blue gloves) fights Eddie Alvarez (red gloves) in their lightweight title bout.
USA Today Sports

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Conor McGregor (blue gloves) fights Eddie Alvarez (red gloves) in their lightweight title bout.

Not a lot of people are giving Conor McGregor a shot to win his publicity stunt turned fight against Floyd Mayweather. And the reasons for that are (or should be) obvious, as Mayweather hasn't lost a bout in his 20-year professional career, and McGregor is crossing over sports to make his boxing debut. It's a novelty, but it's a novelty that will generate enough dough to make an embarrassing defeat worth it. Floyd Mayweather can punch me in the face for $100 million.

Still, it would be best for the promoters, the sport, the PPV buyers, and McGregor himself, if he could provide a decent challenge to Mayweather. But all the evidence at the moment points to the contrary.

The most recent person to add his two cents is someone who would seem to have credibility on the subject, as it's none other than a former sparring partner of McGregor's, ex-IBO welterweight champ Chris van Heerden, who says the Irishman has no chance to pull out a victory during in the 26 bout.

The 29-year-old van Heerden stepped in the ring with McGregor a little over a year ago, in May 2016, and told TMZ that he dominated the UFC star. To add insult to injury, van Heerden says that he was out of shape at the time because he had just returned from vacation, and was still able to land blows at will on Conor.

"It’s crazy, I read all these posts where people say Mayweather’s gonna have his hands full landing on Conor because of Conor’s skill and footwork and movement," he said. "I’m no Mayweather and — out of camp, out of shape — I landed (punches) on Conor McGregor at will."

Asked by TMZ if Conor had the knockout power to pull off an upset, van Heerden simply replied, "No." Finally, he added that Floyd has "been hit by guys that can punch, and he didn’t go down (...) He knows how to recover."

Barring some sort of miracle only possible in a movie montage, it's unlikely to think McGregor has improved dramatically since then. Sounds like one of those pay-per-view fights you should go to a rich buddy's house for. Then again, that's true about pretty much all of them.

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