FLOYD’S NAKED AMBITION

Behind the glitz and the hype of Vegas (and daily visits to his new strip club) Mayweather is not treating this fight lightly

TO the untrained eye, Floyd Mayweather is acting like any one of the thousands of tourists visiting the Las Vegas Strip this week.

From riding horseback at a local ranch to playing crazy golf with his oversized entourage, the 40-year-old appears to have no respect for the challenge posed by Conor Mcgregor.

So much so that he has promised to spend each night of fight week at the strip club he opened as part of his retirement plan.

But as he has done throughout his ring career, Mayweather is merely laying traps. Having trained in the former five-division world champion’s gym recently, Chris Eubank Junior can attest to that.

“Watching Floyd train over the last three weeks, he’s in just as good a condition as he was when I watched him train for Manny Pacquiao,” he said.

“Even though Conor has never had a professional boxing match Floyd is not taking this fight lightly at all, he is going to bring it.” Other than a visit to a shooting range this week, Mcgregor has been holed up in his training compound.

Often the only clue as to his presence at the UFC’S state-of-the-art gym has been his neon-green Lamborghini.

Mcgregor’s striking coach Owen Roddy said: “All the hard work is done, it’s just about sharpening a few things, touching up the game plan, working on certain shots and making sure we have it down to a T.

“Conor will still improve with the work we have to do, but the hard training is done. There’s no more 12round sparring, there’s no more killing himself. He’s as fit as he’s going to be. He’s ready, it’s just about keeping him ticking over.”

Mcgregor’s head coach, John Kavanagh has made two predictions. If Mayweather comes out swinging, as he promised to do to repay his fans for his efficient yet tedious win over Pacquiao, Kavanagh has set his demise as early as the first round.

But if, as is almost certain, Mayweather displays the same defensive mastery that has brought him 49 successive wins, he expects him to survive until the halfway point.

One thing so far missing is the Irish invasion. As many as 10,000 fans made the trip when Mcgregor beat Chad Mendes and then Jose Aldo in the UFC two years ago.

But prohibitive ticket prices running into thousands of pounds may have forced many into a rethink this time.

That will stop the great and the good descending on Sin City.

From Angelina Jolie to Drake, from Lebron James to Jamie Foxx, this has become a must-see event for the rich and famous. Only Mcgregor knows if it will yet turn into a sporting spectacle as well.