It’s fair to say that Conor McGregor doesn’t necessarily have to beat Floyd Mayweather to emerge as a winner.
Just push McGregor’s confidence to the side for a second and think about this logically.
He’s never competed in a professional boxing bout in his life. For his debut, he wants to take on a guy who’s never tasted defeat and has been consistently outclassing the world’s elite. A man who has perfected the art of avoiding getting hit against opponents who have spent the entirety of their lives dedicated to mastering the art of hitting.
On paper, Mayweather should absolutely dominate him inside the ring, and when the fight actually gets confirmed, the odds will reflect that probability. Very few people are expecting him to win and some are doubting he can even compete with the elite pugilist.
If he manages to hang in there and prevent this from developing into a one-sided affair, he can walk away proud of his performance with his head held high.
Money! Money! Money! https://t.co/m1BQlI6dTW
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) March 24, 2017
McGregor’s unorthodox movement, the fact that he will bring skills over from MMA that boxers may not be used to, as well as his size and power advantage makes it an interesting match-up. Mayweather has never fought anyone like him before and he knows what kind of problems that Celtic cross can cause. ‘Money’ would be foolish to underestimate him.
However, Mayweather should still win, and anything short of that could be seen as an embarrassment to the sport of boxing. Chael Sonnen believes that, as he told FightHubTV.
“The public dismisses boxing as a fringe, fake, and phony sport, and the public may just be right! The fact that you can take a guy that has never lost in professional boxing and put him in there with a guy who has never done professional boxing and have a lot of people including people in the industry of boxing think that the guy who has never done it is going to beat your undefeated greatest of all time is an embarrassment for the sport.”
Anyone who’s followed the career of ‘the American Gangster’ knows how to handle his opinions. Be entertained, but be wary – he’s one of the best shite-talkers in the game.
Despite all these factors that make ‘the Notorious’ a dangerous opponent for anyone, Sonnen reckons that anything other than Mayweather delivering an absolute murking would discredit the sport of boxing entirely.
“If Conor McGregor lasts 30 seconds with Floyd Mayweather it discredits boxing, and I think he will. If Conor McGregor makes it out of one round with Floyd Mayweather, the entire sport of boxing is a fake, phony myth. And that’s the kind of pressure they’re under.”
In order for this to happen, Mayweather would have to complete the quickest knockout of his career. Prior to this fight, Mayweather’s fastest finish came in 1997 when he took 72 seconds to put away Tony Duran.
Even Randy Couture needed three minutes and 19 seconds to submit James Toney.
