“I’m here to take all the belts, all the money and then I’m gone….” – Conor McGregor
Conor McGregor has now succeeded in what he set out to do. He has all the MMA belts and now having signed to fight Floyd Mayweather he has all the money. With all those belts safely stashed away and spit shined he now goes on the search for all the boxing ones. Who better to fight in your first professional boxing match thank Money Mayweather. Just last week we were treated to the news that all fight fans have been waiting for, the fight is scheduled for August 26th. It is set to be the single greatest sporting event, not only in the history of the fight game but the greatest spectacle of all time.
By now you’ll have heard it all. Essentially anybody who is anybody in the sport of boxing has given McGregor no chance. It’s hard to argue with them. I mean, they know best surely? It’s not as though he is fighting any professional boxer. He’s fight Floyd Mayweather. A five weight world champion. Undefeated at 49-0, he needs just one more win to surpass Rocky Marciano’s long standing record. He is the pound for pound greatest boxer there has ever been. He has NEVER been knocked out and he has NEVER been knocked down. For the entirety of his 19-year professional career he has almost never even been hit. He is the greatest defensive boxer we’ve ever laid our eyes on. He has beaten every single superstar boxer put in front of him across five separate weight divisions. Put simply, he is the best. So when the experts say, McGregor is an easy fight for him, they’re right. After all, this is McGregor’s boxing debut. Think of that…!
But here is the thing. McGregor isn’t your average debutant. This is his first professional boxing debut but he has boxed for years. But lets take this into account before jumping to conclusions. He is the Cage Warriors Featherweight and Lightweight world champion. He is the UFC Featherweight and Lightweight world champion. A simultaneous UFC champion is a feat that has never been achieved before. He is unique. Until Conor McGregor’s arrival in the UFC, Jose Aldo was the pund for pound greatest fighter on the planet. He had terrorised the Featherweight division for 10 years. He was undefeated in 10 years. When he fought McGregor the clock didn’t reach the 14th second. Conor knocked him unconscious with one swipe of his left hand. Aldo the most feared, avoided and ferocious fighter on the planet was beaten for the first time in his career. Another point to take into account is that Mayweather is 40, Conor McGregor is 28. Nobody alive moves like Conor Mcgregor and nobody alive has a left hand like McGregor. Joe Rogan the veteran UFC commentator describes Conor’s left hand as having ‘the touch of death’, high praise indeed.
Lets make something else very clear. The only reason that this fight is fair is that it is a boxing match. McGregor has had to relinquish every single other martial art he has mastered in order to level the playing field. If Mayweather stepped into the Octagon, it would be laughable. He would be butchered within seconds. When you switch scenarios, McGregor beating at Mayweather at his game is certainly more plausible. However, if Mayweather’s age is a factor, If Conor’s movement is a a factor, if he underestimates Conor or if he takes his eye of the game plan and his mind wanders even for the briefest moment, he’ll be hit on the chin with that McGregor left hand and that will be it. That’s all she wrote. Game over. But if he does what he is supposed to do and box, he will win on points. Standard. Par for the course. That is what makes this fight so interesting. That’s the X- Factor.
Paddy Power released a statistic yesterday that stated 92% of all bets placed on this fight have gone in favour of Conor McGregor. He is priced at 6/1 which is the longest odds you will ever see the Dublin man on. So maybe, just maybe I do know what I am talking about when I say that I’m calling Mayweather’s new Boxrec score at 49-1. McGregor will have all the belts, he will have all the money and I do think he will be gone. Retired. I do not believe we will see him fight again. The Payday is simply too great to bother. Of course that is speculative. Oe thing is for sure though. The face off MMA takes on the face of Boxing to see who is the king of the fight game.On August 26th we’ll find out.
Shane Daly 24/06/2017