Boxing promoter Bob Arum believes Terence Crawford can “pin” Conor McGregor in an MMA bout … yes, “pin.”
Arum has certainly drawn the ire of many in the MMA community over the years. Often times the boxing promoter has dismissed MMA as a legitimate combat sport. Of course due to how much the sport has grown, Arum has had no choice but to acknowledge it on several occasions.
Arum Proposes McGregor vs. Crawford In Both MMA & Boxing
When you talk about today’s best boxers, Terence Crawford sits at number one or two on most fans’ lists. Arum has proposed that McGregor mixes it up with Crawford in both MMA and boxing as he told Little Giant Boxing (h/t MMAJunkie.com).
“It’s not fair to the UFC and to Conor McGregor to say, ‘Well, let him fight this fighter, that fighter, but only in boxing’ – because he’s a good athlete, Conor McGregor, but he’s not a boxer. He’s a mixed martial arts guy,” Arum said.
“So I’m saying, ‘OK. Let’s test it out.’ Terence Crawford will do McGregor in the octagon, and then three months later they can do it in the boxing ring. The octagon would be first because I don’t want them to think we’re playing around. Let the octagon be first, because Terence Crawford is a really tough dude who has a wrestling background, so it’s not like a guy like Mayweather who’s just a great boxer and would be lost, pretty much, in the octagon. Crawford would not be lost in the octagon because he comes from a wrestling background. He is, I think, a world-class wrestler. So let’s see. Let them take the challenge. I think it would be massive.”
Arum went on to make quite the claim of what Crawford can do to McGregor inside the Octagon.
“Yeah, that’s possible,” he said, before offering, bizarrely, “I wouldn’t be surprised if Crawford pins McGregor in an MMA fight. I really mean that. I think Crawford’s a better wrestler than McGregor is.”
Perhaps Arum will run in with a steel chair while the referee’s back is turned. Or maybe Crawford can get the ol’ inside cradle on McGregor!
Take a powder on this one, Bob.
