USA TODAY International Edition
McGregor has army of doubters
Veteran fighters see Mayweather as big favorite
Conor McGregor’s many ardent supporters insist he has a good chance to beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their Aug. 26 show matching the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s lightweight champion against one of the greatest boxers of all time. They point to his size and strength.
They point to Mayweather’s age ( he turned 40 in February). They point to McGregor’s powerful left hand.
Still, those fighters with considerable experience in both sports say they aren’t optimistic about McGregor’s chances. While boxing and mixed martial arts are built around two people punching each other in the face, the differences between the sports are more numerous and more significant than many realize, according to those who have done both.
“They’re not the same sport,” said Marcus Davis, a retired veteran of 20 pro boxing bouts and more than 30 MMA fights. “Once you understand that it’s not the same sport, you can’t keep telling yourself that it’s just a fight. The gloves are bigger; the tactics are different. A lot of the defenses that work in boxing are ones you can’t even use in MMA.”
Davis learned that the hard way. He began his pro boxing career when he was a teenager, transitioning to MMA a decade later. In his boxing stance, Davis said, he couldn’t stop a takedown or check a leg kick. Head movement techniques that helped him avoid punches in boxing got him kicked in the face in MMA.
Covering up with 4- ounce gloves didn’t provide the same protection, and the fights often took place at completely different ranges. It was a rough transition.
“But then sometimes I’d go to MMA gyms, and people who knew I boxed would want to put on the gloves and do some boxing sparring with me,” Davis said. “And when we did that, and I could use all my old boxing tricks, my boxing stance and defense, then I’d just destroy them. They just couldn’t touch me, because it was a completely different game. I knew how to play that game, and they didn’t.”
The same was true for Chris Lytle, a veteran of more than 50 MMA bouts and 15 professional boxing matches. He often trained for both sports at more or less the same time, showing up at gyms looking to do whichever kind of sparring was available that day. But his experience in boxing quickly taught him his limits.
“I thought I was a very good boxer,” Lytle said. “But I was definitely not a great boxer or an elite boxer, and there’s a real difference.”
It’s for that reason, Lytle said, that he’s not expecting much out of McGregor. While he regards Mayweather as “probably my least favorite fighter on the planet,” Lytle also has to be realistic about the difference in skills and experience.
“Conor, he’s a very good and maybe even a great striker for MMA,” Lytle said. “But there is a very big difference between boxing striking and MMA striking. Let’s say you think Conor is a good boxer, which is a pretty big compliment for someone who’s never had a boxing match. But even then, he’s definitely not a great boxer or an elite boxer, and Floyd doesn’t get hit by elite boxers.”
K. J. Noons, who competed professionally in boxing, kickboxing and MMA, likened the difference between the combat sports to tennis and racquetball.
“They’re both sports where you’re hitting a ball with a racket, but they’re also very different,” Noons said. “One’s all wrist, and one is no wrist. It’s a similar thing with boxing and MMA.”
That’s not to say there aren’t options open to McGregor. Cub Swanson, an MMA fighter who has trained extensively with pro boxers, recommended a strategy that pushes the boundaries of the rules. Sparring with boxers has taught him how different the sports can be. While boxers often fight right on top of each other, trying to establish a jab the same way in an MMA fight can result in punches that fall short by half a foot or more.
“If it was me against Mayweather, I would grab him and dirty box and just do as much as I could that the referee would allow me to of grabbing and hitting and trying to slow him down before starting to chuck at his head,” Swanson said. “You’re not going to outslick him in boxing. He makes amazing boxers look bad, so why box him?”
But as Lytle cautioned, that has been tried.
“Everybody thinks the way to get him is to pressure him, make it a dirty, nasty fight, because you’re not going to outbox him,” Lytle said. “But everybody who’s tried, after two or three rounds they stop pressuring him. Floyd must have a little more pop than everybody thinks. Nobody’s been able to make that work against him.”
Davis says the real enemy for McGregor might be the sheer frustration of fighting a defensive genius such as Mayweather.
“He’s going to have to work really hard just to get a clean look at him, but when he thinks he has an opportunity to hit him, then Floyd will tie him up,” Davis said. “I think he’s going to get desperate, he’s going to start lunging, because he’ll realize he can’t lay a glove on him. That’s when I think he’ll start getting hit with the harder shots and I think he’ll probably get stopped within six rounds. If McGregor can make it more than six rounds, that looks bad for boxing.”
Noons is holding out hope for a McGregor surprise. Everyone with two fists and a willingness to throw them has a chance, he says, even if it’s not a great one. But whether McGregor can win is almost beside the point for him.
“Will it be competitive?” Noons said. “I don’t know. But it’s fun; it’ll bring eyes to the sport. At the end of the day, it’s entertainment. I’m going to watch it for sure.”
Conor McGregor is “definitely not a great boxer or an elite boxer, and Floyd ( Mayweather) doesn’t get hit by elite boxers.” Chris Lytle, veteran of boxing and MMA