Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor: Could Fight Happen In First Half Of 2017?

If the latest rumors are true, the sports world won’t have to wait much longer to see Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor face off in a boxing match. According to ESPN’s Steve Levy, the undefeated boxer and UFC star could fight sometime in the first two weeks of June.

Mayweather and McGregor have not been shy when it comes to talking about how much they want to fight each other, and the biggest obstacle in making the bout a reality seems to be the money. Mayweather has said he’s offered McGregor $15 million guaranteed, while the UFC lightweight champion has asked for a nine-figure payday.

READ: Floyd Mayweather says he's ready to make deal with Conor McGregor

It’s certainly possible that Levy’s report could be true, but it doesn’t seem likely that a fight will come together in the first half of 2017.

This wouldn’t be the first time that someone from a major sports network has reported an exact month in which the fight could happen. Last May, Colin Cowherd said the fight would happen in Las Vegas in mid-September. The fight never occurred, and there’s no evidence that it was ever close to being made.

Even if the fight does somehow happen in 2017, it might not happen within the next three months in Las Vegas, as Levy reported. McGregor hasn’t fought since he defeated Eddie Alvarez for the UFC lightweight championship on Nov. 12, and he’s expected to take close to a year off because of the impending birth of his child. A few weeks after McGregor’s victory at UFC 205, UFC president Dana White said McGregor wouldn’t fight again until September.

McGregor has also said that he doesn’t intend to fight in Las Vegas anymore after he was fined $150,000 by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for his confrontation with Nate Diaz at the UFC 202 press conference in August. McGregor acquired his boxing license for the state of California late last year, not Nevada.

Of course, if McGregor if given the opportunity to fight Mayweather and make significantly more money than he’s ever earned in UFC, he’ll probably make a few concessions. Mayweather has only fought in Las Vegas in the last decade.

Whether or not the fight actually gets made one day, the Mayweather-McGregor feud isn’t likely to die anytime soon. Mayweather fired the most recent shot at McGregor, and it probably won’t be long before McGregor responds.