Despite the attention of the entire sporting world being focused this summer on the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor boxing pay-per-view match, it has become very difficult to find anyone outside of the mixed martial arts world willing to give the UFC champion a chance at winning.
You can add former heavyweight champion and International Boxing Hall of Famer Mike Tyson to that list of those who don't believe McGregor (21-3 in MMA) has more than a puncher's chance when he faces the 40-year-old Mayweather (49-0, 26 KOs) on Aug. 26 in Las Vegas.
"McGregor is going to get killed boxing," Tyson said during an appearance on Barstool Sports' "Pardon My Take" podcast in which he often refereed to the UFC champion as "McConnor."
"I got mad because I thought they were going to use MMA rules against boxing because that's what it's all about: Can the boxer beat the MMA guy? McConor put his dumb ass in a position where he's gonna get knocked out because this guy has been doing this all his life since he was a baby," Tyson explained. "McConor can't kick and grab and stuff, so he won't stand much of a chance."
Tyson, 51, added that if he had been the one fighting the 29-year-old McGregor, he would have allowed him to use his legs.
"McGregor took the biggest sucker rules in the history of boxing," Tyson said.
That doesn't mean that Tyson, who was no stranger to carnival fights himself over the second half of his career, won't enjoy the spectacle of the event.
"Conor is a character. Floyd has never met a character like this," Tyson said, laughing while recalling McGregor calling Mayweather "boy" in a rant that was criticized for racial undertones. "I want to say, 'Hey, it's disrespectful,' but it's so funny I can't."
