van Heerden and McGregor (right) (photo via Twitter / @TheHeat001

By FCF Staff

Former IBO welterweight champ, Chris van Heerden, is likely raising eyebrows, as a result of comments the boxer’s made about the ability of MMA fighters to take punches on the jaw.

The South African fighter was recently asked to weigh-in on this Saturday’s boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor, while speaking to Fight Hub TV. Van Heerden made headlines last year throughout MMA, as a result of a sparring session he had with McGregor.

While discussing McGregor’s punching power, van Heerden said this (quote via Bad Left Hook.com):

“His best punch is that counter left hand, he’s very good at it. I’m gonna give that to him, you know. Take nothing away from him, his counter left hand is pretty good and I can see why with [4oz gloves] he’s dropping these guys in MMA but then again, 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.

“In a boxer’s world we are so trained everyday, everyday when we spar we get tagged on the jaw. So we’re used to that where 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.”

Mayweather – McGregor will be hosted by the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.