Conor McGregor's former sparring partner: Floyd Mayweather will win fight because 'MMA stars can't take a punch'

Chris van Heerden, a former IBO welterweight champion, sparred with McGregor last year and is confident the Irishman has little chance of defeating Mayweather

Conor McGregor’s former sparring partner has insisted that the Irishman has no chance of winning his upcoming boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather, adding that mixed martial artists are simply not as tough as professional boxers.

Chris van Heerden, a former IBO welterweight champion, sparred with McGregor in 2016 long before the Mayweather bout had been announced.

The sessions went well, but the South African failed to endear himself with McGregor’s camp when he decided to release footage of the sparring session less than 24 hours after news of the Mayweather fight was made public.

The short video shows McGregor struggling against the much bigger Van Heerden, and the professional boxer has this week commented that the Irishman has little chance of becoming the first man to ever inflict a professional defeat on Mayweather.

And Van Heerden feels that has a lot to do with the fundamental differences between boxers and mixed martial artists.

“We've seen over and over and over it doesn't take much for these MMA fighters, once they get tagged on the jaw, to go down,” he commented in an interview with Fight Hub TV.

“In a boxer's world we are training on boxing everyday and everyday when we spar we get tagged on the jaw,” he added. “So we are used to that.

“But I feel they are so focused on the ground work, on the kicking, on the grappling, on the wrestling, a little bit on the boxing — they don't perfect one thing. It's hard to perfect one thing and when they do get hit hard on the jaw it's like a surprise to them, it's like 'whoa!' and they go down so easy. It's funny.”

Van Heerden added that McGregor’s inability to throw combinations will also make it exceptionally difficult for him to beat the 40-year-old Mayweather.

Mayweather is the overwhelming favourite to win on Saturday (Getty) (Getty Images)

“I feel the massive difference between MMA fighters when it comes to boxing, and boxers when it comes to boxing, is that we are trained to fight in combinations,” Van Heerden said.

“We are trained to throw four, five, six, seven punches in a combination where MMA fighters are not trained to throw combinations. You go look at their fights they throw one-twos, they walk down like this, or it's a one-two, or a one — they don't fight in combinations.

“And that’s what separates them from boxers in the sense of skill is — let's say Conor McGregor vs. Floyd. Floyd knows how to throw six, seven, eight punches in a combination, and land them, where Conor maybe knows how to throw one or two. That's it.”