Mayweather vs. McGregor: Van Heerden talks McGregor's punching power

Chris Van Heerdan says Conor McGregor doesn't pack the punch people think he does.

Chris Van Heerden, a professional boxer who gained a lot of notoriety from his sparring session with Conor McGregor, sits down with FightHub to discuss Conor McGregor's punching power.

"You know what, I'm gonna say this again, and I'm not one guy that says what I think the people want to hear, I call a spade a spade and I'm gonna say this: we had 16oz gloves on, we had headgears on — I was not fazed by his power at all! I wasn't. And I've been in the ring with a lot of guys that can hit. And I've been hit harder, way harder, by guys with 16oz gloves and headgear on. I was not fazed so it's difficult for me to say what his power's like because honestly, I was not fazed. Not at all.

"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.

"...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. 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 thats 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."