‘Don’t you understand? He’s not a boxer’: top promoter delivers stinging assessment of Conor McGregor as UFC champ says he wants to box on

Conor McGregor says he’s found boxing training so enjoyable he’s planning a career that will include both UFC fights and some boxing matches.

Some, however, are already foreseeing a different future for the two-division UFC champion.

“After he fights Mayweather, the only promoter I think who might be interested in promoting him is (smaller, East Coast-based promoter) Artie Pelulo,” said veteran boxing promoter Bob Arum. “Who the ... would want to promote this guy? He can’t fight for ... . Don’t you understand? He’s not a boxer. It’ll take him years to understand. And there’s so many more talented guys around.”

McGregor, 29, hasn’t impressed purists with his footwork and punching technique, and he acknowledges the way he delivers punches in the octagon must be adjusted in the boxing ring, where he can’t count on the threat of kicks, knees or elbows to set up his striking.

“There’s many rookies in the mixed martial arts game from the boxing standpoint,” McGregor said at his Friday session with reporters. “You better believe if the guy’s not skilled in boxing, you better not let him get ahold of you.

“You can’t compare me to the mixed martial arts-boxing that everyone thinks this is. That’s where they might’ve made an error in this selection – ‘this is just an MMA guy.’ They’ve seen MMA guys come in the gym and spar. But I am not that. I’m at a different level and I think as the fight is coming closer, as they come face to face with it, they see the confidence, the difference ... they see they’ve made a grave error. That’s what I believe.”

McGregor, a 6/1 underdog with Nevada sports books, has predicted his boxing match with the sophisticated, defensive-minded Mayweather (49-0) will be decided by his innate fighting skill more than a reliance on the fundamentals of boxing.