Conor McGregor needs one boxing victory to fight for a WBC title
Conor McGregor will be fighting Dustin Poirier next Saturday at UFC 257 and a win would most likely result in the sports icon fighting for a UFC title at some point in 2021. While the UFC is gearing up for what could be a year for McGregor, the sport of boxing hasn’t ruled out Conor McGregor fighting for a championship.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman told SunSport that if McGregor boxes a someone ranked in the top 15 and wins then he will be eligible for a title fight.
“I would say he needs to face and defeat a ranked fighter,” Sulaiman said in the interview to SunSport. “Then he would be eligible to be ranked and to compete for a title. … We have plenty of examples of Muay Thai fighters who turn professional in international boxing and they are eligible to fight for the title. We also have amateur superstars like Vasiliy Lomachenko. They come into professional boxing and fight for the title, and it’s proven it works.”
McGregor of course did try his hand at boxing in 2017 when he suffered a 10th-round knockout loss to Floyd Mayweather. Despite the fact that his only time boxing resulted in a loss, Sulaiman believes his years of MMA experience qualifies him to box a top ranked boxer.
“This is not a rookie entering the sport. He has a long history of combat sports. So it’s a different scenario of what it used to be in the past.”
McGregor, 32, has always expressed interested in boxing again. Recently it was rumored that McGregor was in talks to box WBA welterweight titleholder Manny Pacquiao. In order for the two to face one another, Pacquiao would need to retain his title and an athletic commission would need to sanction the fight.
Also in order to challenge for Pacquiao’s belt, McGregor would have to weigh in at the 147 pound welterweight limit. The last time McGregor weighed in that low for a fight came 2015 when he defeated Jose Aldo for the UFC featherweight title at UFC 194. When McGregor boxed Floyd Mayweather the fight was at junior middleweight which is at 154 pounds. McGregor weighed in at 153 pounds for that fight while Mayweather came in just over 149 pounds.
If McGregor did want to go the route of the WBC titles there are some big names available for him to fight as Errol Spence (welterweight), Jermell Charlo (junior middleweight and middleweight), and Canelo Alvarez (super middleweight) all hold WBC titles in weight classes that McGregor has covered throughout his combat career.
Of course before McGregor can even consider boxing he has to finish business with Dustin Poirier as their rematch will headline UFC 257 on Jan 23. The pay per view will begin at 10 p.m. EST.
