Conor McGregor agrees to fight Irish boxing champion
It’s been tumultuous times for Irish former UFC champion Conor McGregor. While he ascended to super stardom in conjunction with his boxing bout against world champion Floyd Mayweather, most of the news surrounding him since has been negative. He was dominated in his submission loss to arch rival Khabib Nurmagomedov, failing in his bid to reclaim the UFC lightweight championship. His recent assault case certainly didn’t no MGregor’s image any good, either.
That assault in a Dublin bar may have led to another big fight, however. One of those who took note of McGregor assaulting a 50 year old bar patron was Irish WBO European Champion “Cool Hand” Luke Keeler. The Irish boxing champ took to Twitter to blast McGregor for his actions.
Sad to see @TheNotoriousMMA stoop so low, did the same to a friend of mine couple of years ago and still walking around acting the gangster, I’d be happy to put him in his place if he had the balls to step in a ring again ?? https://t.co/SSnAoQmr4K
— Coolhand Luke (@luke_keeler) August 15, 2019
Apparently McGregor got word of the Twitter message. He then decided to call Keeler on the telephone to make sure his frustration was heard.
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“I don’t want to get into it too much, but I know he wasn’t happy about the call out,” Keeler told Irish Boxing. “He is not happy.
“The fight community in Ireland is small enough and Crumlin isn’t too far from Ballyfermot- and I heard he wasn’t happy with the timing of.
“He rang me and we had a few words. I told him the fight was there to be made and he was all for it. He agreed to fight over the phone.”
The McGregor phone call and subsequent acceptance of a boxing match may have been in the heat of the moment. Despite this, Keeler still feels the fight might happen.
“I agree it could be just all talk. Whether he has the balls or not to get in the ring again, never mind with me, we will have to see. He could have been just trying to front up or speaking in anger, but it got to the stage where I felt comfortable enough passing onto my management team.”
McGregor hasnt fought since October last year, where he was submitted by Nurmagomedov in the fourth round. Before that he faced Mayweather, losing via tenth round TKO.