Bellew: ‘There’s not a chance in hell that McGregor needs just one punch’
Boxing champion Tony Bellew writes that McGregor will need multiple effective techniques to beat Mayweather.
The only way I can see Conor McGregor causing trouble is if he jumps on Floyd Mayweather, non-stop punching. That is the only slither of a case I can make for a McGregor win. But, how long could he keep doing that before he gets countered? Getting close in the boxing ring and octagon is completely different. When you get close in the octagon you’re allowed to hit and hold…Looking at the Paulie Malignaggi clips, it looks like McGregor was using a lot of slaps and uppercuts on the inside – that’s not going to work. Mayweather will tuck up and come back fast and vicious. A counter left hook would smash into McGregor’s temple…And on that Malignaggi ‘knockdown’ – it doesn’t matter anyway. That’s sparring…The gym does not mean anything. It gets you ready for when you’re under the lights, that’s it…His punch looked good, straight with some power. But listen, Mayweather is the best ever and McGregor was found out against Nate Diaz in stand-up…Diaz did not stop McGregor on the floor. Yeah, he choked him out, but he got him to the floor by consistently punching him in the face…Are you trying to tell me Conor McGregor hits harder than Alvarez, than Shane Mosley, than De la Hoya, than Hatton – the list is endless. There’s not a chance in hell that McGregor needs just one punch.
Kavanagh: ‘We’re looking forward to shocking the world’
In an article for The42, Coach Kavanagh gives his thoughts on the McGregor-Mayweather fight.
On one of my first trips to Las Vegas with Conor McGregor, probably back in 2014, I recall him mentioning the possibility of a fight against Floyd Mayweather. I stopped doubting him a long time ago at this stage, but I remember at the time laughing it off as nothing more than a novel idea that could never possibly become a reality. Now here we are and it’s just over nine weeks away…We’re in the midst of three good weeks of training here in Ireland, before departing for Las Vegas in mid-July. I believe there will be quite a large media world tour squeezed in there as well.
He talks about the mural:
I wanted to put something suitable on the wall because Conor is a big believer in visualisation and manifesting what you can conceive into reality. That’s the shot we believe will win the fight for Conor and it’s now there for us to see whenever we train.
On strategy:
Mayweather has been in the boxing world for his entire career and everyone he’s faced has moved in a certain way that he’s pre-conditioned to handle. Now he’s going up against a guy who doesn’t follow any set patterns, who can deploy a variety of different styles of fighting and is not one bit intimidated. Conor is — as we all are here — 100% confident in victory. That kind of person is very difficult to deal with…We’re not going over to Las Vegas to make up the numbers on 26 August. When this contest takes place, we’ll be 100% ready — physically and mentally — and nothing other than victory will be acceptable. We’re looking forward to shocking the world — again.
McGuigan: McGregor lacks financial ability to take on Mayweather
McGuigan, currently training Michael Conlan in Las Vegas, writes about the financial aspects of a Mayweather-McGregor fight.
I can understand how Mayweather would be dismissive. Dana White’s guarantee of $50 million split down the middle does not reflect the power or the value of the respective sports. Mayweather would not get out of bed for $25 million, and McGregor’s record purse to date is the $3m banked for his fight against Nate Diaz. Clearly McGregor needs Mayweather more than Pretty Boy needs him. Indeed this is as much a challenge to UFC as it is to Mayweather, with McGregor unhappy with the money that filters down his way from a sport that changed hands for $4 billion dollars last summer. It is a pity McGregor quit boxing in favour of mixed martial arts as a kid in Dublin. You can see just by looking at him that he would have made a decent boxer if he had been exposed to the right environment and given an opportunity to develop.