Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor fight has a South African twist

The undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather and two-weight UFC world champion Conor McGregor have agreed to a boxing match on August 26 in Las Vegas. The fight is expected to become the highest grossing event in the history of either sport. But is has a South African twist.

The fight was confirmed last week, with McGregor tweeting “THE FIGHT IS ON,” moments before Mayweather posted a short promotional video to his Instagram page, along with the caption “It’s official”.

Mayweather was immediately made the overwhelming favourite to win the fight by bookmakers across the world. He boasts a flawless professional record of 49-0, while McGregor has never previously been involved in a boxing match.

Friend of justjody.co.za American based South African Boxer Chris “The Heat” Van Heerden had two sparring sessions with Conor McGregor and released some footage of the session.

Van Heerden recently said in an interview “When people ask me why I’ve released this footage now, it’s because it hurts me that there are guys like myself who have been devoted to this sport, risking our lives,” he said. “And to see McGregor, who has zero knowledge of professional boxing, make it out like he could just get out of an octagon, step in the ring and beat up the best pound-for-pound fighter out there – to just make out like our lifestyle is so easy and that anybody could do it, and then for people to be saying he has a big chance of beating Floyd. I just thought, judge for yourself.”

To get to the root of this issue, however, the genesis of van Heerden’s interactions with modern MMA’s figurehead requires retelling.

After defeating Steve Clagget via majority decision in April 2016, van Heerden returned home to South Africa to spend time with his family. The day after he arrived back in the U.S., the 30-year visited his gym to catch up with friends and colleagues.

SA Boxer and friend of Justjody.co.za Chris “The Heat” Van Heerden recently had 2 sparring sessions with UFC world champion Conor McGregor

While there, he was told that there was someone who wished to speak with him. That someone just so happened to be McGregor.

“Conor asked me if I minded moving around with him at some point,” van Heerden said. “I knew it was for the Nate Diaz rematch, but at that same point, the McGregor vs. Mayweather talks caught fire. For me being from South Africa, in America, I needed a way to get my name out over here.

“So, with the talks of the fight with Mayweather going on, if I moved around with Conor, I knew people were going to want to know who I was. So I said yes, but it was a big risk because I was out of shape and hadn’t trained for a month.”

“We sparred on two different occasions,” he said. “When I sparred with him on the first occasion, which was even worse than the second time, I cut his nose, but it was all fun. We weren’t in there trying to kill each other.

“The next session was the one from where the footage leaked. Conor came in with his camera people, so at the same time, I told one of my friends to take out his phone and record it too.”

Van Heerden claimed that he did not give permission to either his gym or McGregor for anything that was recorded to be published in the public domain. But it was soon in the hands of TMZ, which did just that.

While it came as a shock, one that compelled him to leave the gym permanently, van Heerden said that the great bombshell arrived when McGregor’s website, the MacLife.com, also posted footage of their time in the ring.

Van Heerden said that their version was purposely edited in a manner that showed McGregor to be getting the better of their exchanges.

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