Conor McGregor is convinced he will beat Floyd Mayweather Jr on Aug. 26 inside of four rounds.
If the Nevada Athletic Commission approves the fighters’ request to use 8 ounce gloves, he said he would beat Mayweather in the first six minutes of the fight.
“He’ll be unconscious inside two rounds, really one round, only for the 10 second count I will give him maybe surviving into the second, but if it’s 10 ounce gloves, maybe four rounds, but under four rounds he’ll be unconscious,” said McGregor, who enters the boxing world with a 21-3 MMA record.
Photo: AFP
However, if McGregor plans to fight the same way he worked out for the media on Friday at UFC’s exquisite headquarters in southwest Las Vegas, Mayweather should not have any problem improving to 50-0.
The 29-year-old Irishman simulated a 12-round boxing match by dancing around punching bags for about 47 minutes, at times looking like an out-of-sync boxer with wide swings that left his guard down, awkward combinations and unnecessary shuffling.
At other times he looked like an MMA fighter eager to charge his opponent, something he obviously cannot do in a boxing match.
However, with as much hype and promotion being thrown into the ring with both fighters, McGregor left plenty of intrigue and insists he did not show half the boxing skills he honed has a youth in Ireland, simply teasing anyone in attendance and everyone else who might have tuned into any live streaming on social media.
“I don’t know how many times I’ve shocked the world and I’m going to shock it once again,” McGregor said. “It’s not going to end well for Floyd. It’s not going to end well for all the people doubting me.”
McGregor said nothing has changed in his training, other than the fact he cannot use his legs or take his opponent to the ground, and he is the same hardworking fighter who won two Ultimate Fighting Championship titles.
“I show up to the gym, I work hard and through my hard work I gain my confidence — that’s been the same since day one,” said McGregor, the reigning UFC Lightweight Champion and former UFC Featherweight Champion. “The fundamentals are still there; I show up, I work hard.”
While speculation is McGregor will be the aggressor early on, his game plan and strategy remain a mystery, since this will be his first professional boxing match. What has not been a mystery is the air of confidence he displays, combined with a clear disdain for his opponent that has him assured he will hand Mayweather his first professional loss.
“You can’t prepare for me, you can’t prepare for me, you can’t prepare for the movement, you can’t prepare for any of it,” McGregor said. “He can sit here and watch this [workout], and I’m sure he has been watching that. Let him watch, let him try and study, but you cannot prepare for this.”
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