A few weeks ago footage got out of Conor McGregor sparring with former IBF champion Chris Van Heerdan in California (click here to watch).
Van Heerdan was speaking with Submission Radio about sparring with McGregor and the Irishman's potential in boxing. The following is transcribed by Bloody Elbow:
"Once that footage got out, people were forming opinions. And I’ve got sparring footage where you can clearly see I’m the professional boxer and not Conor."
"Can Conor McGregor box? Yes. He can. I was shocked at how well he could handle himself in the ring. You can immediately see that Conor’s got a boxing background and that he knows how to use his hands. Yes, Conor can fight."
"It’s the important things that showed, like the footwork, the balancing of the feet, crossing the feet, where he places his feet, his defence – the small things that a boxer is so focused on and Conor McGregor lacks, and it was easy for me to capitalise on mistakes like that."
"I would honestly say, if Conor McGregor can focus on his stand up game on boxing – let’s say he can get a two, three-month training camp where he can mainly focus on his boxing ability and polish some skills, some small mistakes, Conor can shock a lot of boxers out there by just what he might do."
For the full interview watch the video below:
