Mayweather tries to build intrigue for McGregor fight

Floyd Mayweather is a smart salesman when it comes to boxing, and he knows very well that anyone with half a brain would see him as the prohibitive favorite were he to actually face UFC star Conor McGregor in a boxing match.

So Mayweather is doing the smart thing: he’s selling the idea that McGregor could actually have a chance to beat him.

From TMZ:

"I've been off for a couple years and I'm 40 years old now. So, I'm a lot older and he's still in his 20s and I'm in my 40s now. So that could play a major key, we don't know. And he's a heavy hitter. ... Every time he goes out there and defeats fighters, he's standing up. He's in a boxing position and he's beating fighters. ... Does he have a good chance of upsetting Floyd Mayweather? I can't say, but anything can happen in the sport of boxing."

If the fight does happen, it’s nearly impossible to imagine the greatest pro boxer of a generation losing to a man who isn’t a pro boxer. But that’s what Floyd is trying to sell, and it’s the right play. By “admitting” potential weakness — his age, McGregor’s punching power in MMA — he is selling this as something worth paying major money to see on in the arena or on pay-per-view.

But if you’ve followed Floyd Mayweather at any point during the past decade, you’ll know very well exactly what this is, and that there’s no way he actually thinks Conor McGregor can beat him.