Cyborg Backs Mayweather To Win, Would Love To Enter Boxing
MMA star Cris Cyborg is fully backing Floyd Mayweather Jr. to defeat Conor McGregor this coming Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Cyborg, the UFC's featherweight champion and viewed by many as the pound for pound female in mixed martial arts, is very good friends with two-time Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields, who recently captured the IBF, WBC super middleweight titles.
"I don’t believe he will win the fight,” Cyborg told media, according to MMA Fighting. "Mayweather will win this fight, for sure. He’s at another level. But (McGregor) is brave, and he opened doors for MMA (fighters) in boxing and for boxing fans to come to MMA, and vice versa. It will help our sport grow."
McGregor, who is the UFC's biggest star and their lightweight champion, is making his professional boxing debut and because of his inexperience he's viewed as a massive underdog.
Mayweather, 40 years old and inactive for the last two years, is regarded as one of the best defensive fighters in boxing history.
Because of her training with a top fighter, Cyborg believes that she would fare a lot better in a boxing ring than McGregor would.
"I’d like to box,” Cyborg said. "Claressa and I trained together and there’s no one better for you to train but an Olympic medalist. She’s fast. It’s good to train with someone better than you because you evolve, you see more things. But I would definitely box if I have an opportunity like McGregor.”
"It’s different when you train with someone that knows boxing. But when you train with someone that doesn’t know boxing … it’s not that McGregor doesn’t know boxing, but he’s not a boxer his entire life. When you’re sparring with someone that is not from boxing it’s more difficult because he throws a different jab compared to a boxer, has different faints, so there are more surprises. But I don’t believe McGregor will win. Mayweather is a boxing legend."