Promoter Hearn not interested in “entertaining” McGregor

Such is the popularity, notoriety and monetary value of Dublin’s Conor McGregor he looks to be a promoter’s dream.

All promoters bar Eddie Hearn it seems. The Matchroom boss, who has just signed Katie Taylor and has 2017 World title plans for both the Bray fighter and Belfast’s Ryan Burnett, but claims he wouldn’t be too interested in the former Crumlin BC amateur.

Hearn is a fan of the UFC’s leading light, but doesn’t think ‘The Notorious’ has what it takes to survive in the World of boxing.

“Conor McGregor would have no chance of making it as a boxer at this point,” stated Hearn on RTÉ.

“I have heard suggestions that McGregor wants to move in to boxing, but he would be little more than a amateur, even if he shows some decent boxing skills in UFC.”

The English promoter stressed that he is entertained by the UFC featherweight champ, who challenges Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title next month, claiming that “I’m a big admirer of McGregor and there is no doubt that he is one of the best exponents of MMA in the world right now.”

“He’s also brilliant at hyping himself and people are just as excited to see what happens in a McGregor press conference as they are when he fights. The guy is entertaining and he deserves all the success coming his way. He is very, very clever and a promoter’s dream.”

However, Hearn sees the differences between boxing and mixed martial arts are too vast, explaining that “the key with a guy like this is he can back up his boasts with performances as a sportsman, but he is an MMA performer and not a boxer. You cannot just switch to the ring and expect to be competitive straight away.”

“He would be an amateur if he went into boxing and would have no chance of challenging for major titles, even at a domestic level for a long time.”

“MMA and boxing are totally different sports, but the fact that we are even talking about McGregor moving into boxing confirms this is a story people are interested in.”