CONOR VOWS TO HIT VEGAS JACKPOT
CONOR McGREGOR insists he has the power to back up his trash talking and pull off a huge shock against Floyd Mayweather Jr on August 26.
It will be the first time the Irish mixed martial arts fighter has ever boxed professionally and five-weight world champion Mayweather is a big betting favourite for the light-middleweight fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The pair swapped insults over a four-city tour, which ended in London on Friday night with two-weight UFC champion McGregor, 29, promising a KO to silence those who say the fight is a money-grabbing mismatch.
He said: “You can say pretty much anything in other games and there’s no date to answer to it. In the fight game, you can say anything but there’s a date you have to come up with an answer and on August 26 I’m ready to go and answer that.
“The little b*stard does look good for 40, but his frame is just too small. I think when he comes up against my style he will have trouble with it, the way he approaches fights. When I come face-to-face with men I can tell by their facial structure.
“Big eastern European m***** f*****s and I’m looking at their skull and I can tell it’s going to take a few smacks to put these guys away.
“Floyd is definitely not going to take the shots. The legs and the core and stability doesn’t support him against this animal. He’s in over his head with this. He doesn’t know what he’s got himself into.
“That’s what I said to the CEO of Mayweather Promotions Leonard Ellerbe (right). I said it falls on his shoulders. He has brought him back in here, he didn’t manage his money properly. When it’s all said and done, do not doubt me again.”
McGregor, known as The Notorious, was unemployed a week before his first UFC fight four years ago but can expect to make over £80million from the bout after a media tour to Los Angeles, Toronto, New York and London.
He said: “Anything can be achieved
if you put your head down and do your work and believe in yourself, speak with confidence and whatever you do you speak with no fear. “Being able to do that inspires me.” McGregor has mercilessly mocked Mayweather this week and is not overawed by the occasion, which could become boxing’s richest fight in history and make more than the $623.5m that Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao generated in 2015.
He added: “It became like a verbal battle and people were scoring me and you don’t envisage that but if you are doing that, f*** it, I smoked him.
“In the first round, they set me up with no music or anything. The f*** you suit I wore went viral. Toronto was a wipeout, a 10-7 round, and New York was alright, the images from it were iconic, and in London I smoked him, so it’s 4-0, or 3-1 if you want to be generous.
“I’ve never even seen the man before LA. He has his childish ways and it’s amusing to see a 40-year-old man carrying on like that. I’m going to put him away, and that’s it. “When the fight gets closer the face becomes blank and it’s just a body type that moves in a specific way. I don’t really care what way he acts, except what way he moves and what shots hurt him.” And McGregor hit back at Mayweather’s claims he had made racist remarks on the media tour after the Irishman said, “Dance for me, boy! Dance for me, son!” during one exchange. He said: “If he feels disrespected he’s an idiot, and f*** him as well. I think it’s f***ing ridiculous. I don’t understand it. I know who I am as a person. My comments in New York didn’t really hit right. Most realistic people can see that. He’s trying to sway something by saying I’m disrespecting women. “I didn’t talk about his past. If anything, it was a dirty play on his behalf. You play like that it’s a b**** move and you know that but it’s done now and let’s get ready to fight.”