McGregor vowing to outbox legend
LAS VEGAS — Conor McGregor is the greatest at whatever he wants to be greatest at. Just ask Conor McGregor. To him, his UFC lightweight championship is the result of pursuing mixed martial arts. Now that he’s boxing for the f irst time in his professional career, Saturday night against Floyd Mayweather Jr., McGregor expects to be better than the best boxer of a generation.
“That’s what a true martial artist is. I curate many forms of fighting,” McGregor said during Wednesday’s press conference at the MGM Grand. “I’m truly, truly skilled in many forms.
“I’m gonna outbox him at his own game. … [He] should have left me where I was.”
McGregor’s time in the Octagon makes it diff icult to envision how he will perform in a ring. He only has been seen wearing boxing gloves in carefully selected videos and pictures, released by his camp.
Despite an undeniable punching power that has helped him amass 18 knockouts in his MMA career, McGregor (21-3) has only trained to be a boxer for a few months, while Mayweather has spent more than two decades living inside the ropes.
In 49 f ights against trained boxers, Mayweather never has been beaten, making it laughable to many that McGregor could do what no professional could accomplish.
McGregor can be doubted. He just can’t be disproven — yet.
“The disrespect and the disregard to my skill set is disappointing,” McGregor said. “I look at people so many times and their mind is closed. They’ve got a closed mind to how things can be done. It’s a set way and there’s no other way.
“You’ve got to give respect for other disciplines and other styles. … But at the same time I get it. I’m coming in; I’m supposed to be from another sport and so again, I understand where it’s at.”
To prepare for the transition to boxing, McGregor brought veteran boxing referee Joe Cortez to his training camp, and sparred with former welterweight Paulie Malignaggi, though the 29-yearold kept his MMA training team, seeing no reason to hire a boxing coach.
McGregor said he has been training to throw punches his entire life and didn’t need his style altered, while feeling no need to emulate any other boxers.
“I didn’t model off anyone. I didn’t say I was gonna do this or do that, I just rolled with it,” said McGregor, who has cited deep respect for Muhammad Ali. “I’ve certainly been a fight fan and studied things and maybe it’s had an effect.
“I was very happy with how the camp went. [I] look like a different person. We’re very pleased with the progress. … I watched the finals par, and all the unnecessary [things] were gone and it was a cleaner product, the perfect product. As it went on, the correct moves formed.”
Technique and footwork, and a myriad of other boxing skills, can be learned, if not mastered. Experience and endurance are more difficult to cram the night before a big test.
May weather’ s past seven fights have gone the distance — his last knockout came in 2011 — and of McGregor’s 24 MMA fights, only one has lasted more than three rounds. McGregor’s past 10 fights have lasted an average of fewer than nine minutes, while Mayweather has averaged more than 33 minutes in his past 10 fights.
To build for a far longer fight than he’s accustomed to, McGregor sparred in multiple 12-round bouts — which he found less taxing than the numerous defenses employed during five-minute MMA rounds — and spent time in an altitude chamber, simulating 13,000 feet elevation, at the UFC Performance Institute.
“It was a scary training session,” McGregor said. “There’s no way in hell that I am not ready to fight in the deepest of trenches in this contest. … We are ready for absolutely every scenario. I’m ready to go to war for the full 12 rounds and I’m ready to put him away in the first 10 seconds.
“It’s a different kind of cardiovascular training. So, we have adjusted some things and I feel absolutely amazing. We are more than prepared.”