Conor McGregor spent the better part of his press conference on Tuesday with reporters today jockeying back and forth with Floyd Mayweather Sr. instead of talking to the boxing media in Los Angeles, California about his August 26th fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Showtime pay-per-view.
McGregor did let the media know that he thinks the 40-year-old Mayweather is too small, too fragile and too weak to stand up to him inside the boxing ring. McGregor says his shots will be too powerful for Mayweather to block. McGregor doesn’t see that working well for Mayweather if he tries to block his big power shots
This was the first stop for Mayweather-McGregor for their 4-city International tour, which will be visiting 3 countries. The two fighters stood for a face off at the end of Tuesday’s press conference, and Mayweather looked about as tall as the 5’9” McGregor. Either the 5’8” Mayweather was wearing unusually sneakers or McGregor isn’t really 5’9”. Something wasn’t right.
“On August 26th, this man will be unconscious,”said McGregor about Mayweather. “He’s too small. He’s too frail. He can catch the shot as well. I don’t mind that he catches the shot on the gloves. His brain will still be rattled,” said McGregor.
It would be a big win for McGregor if he can beat the 40-year-old Mayweather by a knockout. I don’t think many hardcore boxing fans believe McGregor to be capable of knocking Mayweather out. Mayweather has been in with some big punchers during his career, and McGregor probably doesn’t have the kind of power that Mayweather is accustomed o facing. We’ll have to see.
Mayweather has a lot of ring rust that could cause him to be at less than his best on August 26. McGregor’s fighting style is so different from anyone Mayweather has fought before during his career. Without some good sparring partners that can give Mayweather an approximation of what it’s going to be like to share the ring with McGregor, it’s going to be a problem for him when he gets in there with him.
“Your boy is in trouble, senior,” said McGregor speaking to Floyd Mayweather Sr. “He’s too small, and too frail. His little legs, and small head. He’s too small, senior. He’s made a big mistake. He got greedy. He could have been 49-0, and rode off into the sunset. You misadvised him. You should have kept him retired. It’s your fault. Your boy is going to sleep, and he’s going to look so good in his sleep. I know he is. I tell you what though. He’s going to wake up a better man.He’s never even had a fight. He’s beaten a lot of bums. Somebodies’ ‘O’ has got to go,” said McGregor.
According to news reports, Mayweather has tax problems with the IRS. Coming back to fight McGregor for a payday of over $100 million will likely help Mayweather take care of his tax issues. If Mayweather burns his way through his entire fortune, he could be out of luck. Mayweather has made over $700 million during his boxing career. Just where all that money went is the big question. Mayweather has spent so much money on buying expensive cars that he rarely drives. In hindsight, Mayweather should have saved his money and just went with more affordable cars than the expensive ones that he’s been dumping total cash on.
“He’s saying this is a fight for his fans, but the reason he accepted this fight is because he has to,” said McGregor in talking about Mayweather’s tax problems. ”He’s in dire situation. He’s not in a good situation. Am I going to come up here and say, ‘Ha-ha-ha’ about his situation, not I’m not. I hope he’s smart with the money he makes in his fight,” said McGregor.
If Mayweather wins this fight against McGregor, he would be smart to try and get whatever fights he can find in the boxing or MMA world so he can make sure that he doesn’t blow through his money quickly. It’s only been 2 years since Mayweather retired. He made $200 million in the Manny Pacquiao fight, and he made big money fighting Saul Canelo Alvarez and Andre Berto. If it only took Mayweather 2 years to blow through his entire fortune, then he could be out of luck if he stays out of the ring for another 2 year before trying to come back at age 42. I don’t think the boxing public is going to keep purchasing Mayweather’s fights as he ages, especially if he only fights once every 2 years.
“You’re talking about a 200 pound there,” said McGregor in response to a comment about him tiring twice in his fights with Nate Diaz in the UFC. “You’re talking about grappling exchanges. You’re talking about elbows, knees and kicks. You’re talking about a hell of a different situation. In boxing, you’re talking about a referee that saves the day every time you’re caught up in a clinch. I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but the game is very easy game compared to my game,” said McGregor.
I don’t think McGregor honestly believes boxing is an easy game. If he believed hat, he wouldn’t have hired sparring partners from the boxing world. McGregor obviously realizes what he’s up against in facing Mayweather. When McGregor gets inside the ring with Mayweather, he’ll realize how tough it is to fight in the boxing ring. McGregor has the brains to learn the sport. If he has started earlier, I wouldn’t be surprised if McGregor turned out to be a very good boxer.
“As long as he speaks my name with respect, I’ll abide by the boxing rules,” said McGregor about Mayweather. “I’ll abide by the Marquees of Queensbury rules only if he speaks my name. If he disrespects me on this tour, then maybe I might just bounce an elbow off his eyebrow. As long as he’s nice and respectful, I’ll follow the Marquees of Queensbury rules. If He doesn’t, and his head gets this low, I might just wrap it up in a strangle. It takes 3 seconds to sleep a fighter from a strangle. An untrained neck not used to it, it takes 2 seconds. So if I wrap around his neck and strangle him, he’ll be asleep within 2 seconds on the canvas in the ring. I can fight in many stances. I can take a boxing stance. I can take a wrestling stance. I can stand and fight in many ways, and I will fight in all of them. I will paint many pictures in the ring, dazzle him, and then the shots will find a home,” said McGregor.
Hopefully, McGregor doesn’t foul Mayweather with an elbow or try and strangle him. That would be bad if McGregor ends up getting disqualified. It might please McGregor’s UFC fans, as he would be saved in their eyes from being knocked out or badly beaten by Mayweather, but it would still look really bad. McGregor should at least give the boxing and MMA fans their money’s worth considering how expensive the fight will be selling for on Showtime PPV.
The asking price to purchase the fight on PPV is $89.99 for regular PPV and $99 for HD. That’s a lot of money for a fight that could end with a disqualification if McGregor gets angry or if he decides he doesn’t want to go out on his shield. Some fighters in boxing resist the idea of fighting until the end. They’ll take the effortless way out if things start look bad for them.