Conor McGregor’s biggest fan in the world might just be an international boxing legend
Prince Naseem is the latest well known figure to come at as a fan of the Irish UFC superstar. The former WBO, WBC, IBF, and Lineal featherweight champion, and European bantamweight champion revealed his admiration for the Dubliner in a recent interview on Boxing News podcast.
However, he explained that he was reluctant to watch McGregor fight initially, because he didn’t like the sport of MMA. He confessed that his brother was the person who convinced him to bite the bullet and have a gawk at the charismatic Irish fighter in action.
I was in Sheffield last week with my brother Ali and he said to me, “have you seen this guy in the UFC?” And I said to my brother, “I don’t watch UFC. I don’t like UFC”.
He said, “What do you mean you don’t like UFC? It’s fighting”. I said, “I don’t really like the rule s of UFC. I think it’s a lot lot more dangerous than boxing”. Then he said to me, “Look, just watch this fighter with me today and let’s see if you don’t like UFC.”
Well he showed me this Irish guy from Dublin called Conor McGregor and I swear to God, this guy is a breath of fresh air. This guy in my eyes is the most entertaining man in the whole of any combat sport there is today. So he blazed out the whole of boxing, he’s smashed it out.
Aside from his insane talent, Naseem made a name for himself for his showmanship and his flamboyant ring entrances, perhaps the most famous of which was entering on a magic carpet. He admitted that he saw a lot of himself in the way McGregor hypes up his fights and puts on a show for the crowd.
Listen, listen, he’s EN-TER-TAIN-ING!
The guy is a very confident guy. I like the way he fights. Obviously after I watched I’ve read up on him a little bit. The guy used to be a national amateur champion. He grew up watching me. Some of the stuff he does reminds me of how confident I used to be. Some of the ways he speaks and how he carries himself.
Naseem ended his career with a 36-1 record in professional boxing. The sole blemish on his record came at the hands of fellow boxing icon Marco Antonio Barrera.
Hat-tip to Boxing News Magazine
