Now he gets to train. He gets to fight.
Conor McGregor was delighted to have reached the end of his press conference world tour to promote his August 26 bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
What started with a flight out of Dublin, and took in Los Angeles, Toronto and New York, ended in London’s SSE Wembley Arena in front of a partisan crowd – thousands of Irish and English fight fans in unison, supporting ‘The Notorious’.
The world tour certainly took a lot out of both men, and many in their entourage, but McGregor was revived once it wrapped up. He was going up the road, he told us, to be reunited with Dee Devlin, his partner, and his son, Conor Jr.
“Look, life is so good, what can I say?” he said. “I’m just loving life at the minute.
“I liked when I could say I’m 28 but I’m 29 now, and I don’t know how I feel about that! I’ve just turned 29 and I’m fresh in the fight game. I’m going nowhere for a long time.”
Amid the chaos, he stopped and congratulated a woman who was standing near Audie Attar, his manager, and congratulated her. A baby was on the way but, most likely, won’t arrive in time to discover whether McGregor can “spark” Mayweather in a boxing ring.
As he reviewed the tour with The Mac Life, he reached out to help a back-pedalling cameraman as he approached some stairs. “Watch that stairs now Gav, yeah?”
This was McGregor the considerate, friendly, personable man we occasionally hear about but who is often lost in the noise.
At the tail-end of the post-conference press briefing, just as many of the cameras were being switched off, McGregor was asked to reflect on the spectacle of the past week. His response will prove an inspiration to people in all walks of life.
He commented:
“When it’s all said and done, I’ve certainly raised the bar [for MMA fighters]. Forget that, though, it’s even for the average person.
“Four years ago, I fought at the HMV Forum, Kentish Town [London] – I don’t even know where that is from here – in front of 500 people. Four years ago! Look at tonight, this arena is full for a press conference.
“Never mind motivating for UFC fighters and raising that bar. Humans, people on their own journey can see that anything can be achieved and it can be achieved like that [snaps fingers] if you put your head down, you work, you believe in yourself, and speak with confidence. Whatever you want to do, you speak it loud and with no fear and, no matter what people say, it happens.
“That’s something I can take with me. That inspires and motivates me right back.”
As a response, it was right up there with ‘I Am Not Talented. I Am Obsessed’ and it will definitely resonate with so many.
A lad from Crumlin is about to take on Floyd Mayweather Jr in his very first professional boxing out and he’s convinced he can win. Nasty words have been exchanged on this tour but it was heartening to hear such soaring rhetoric as it wrapped up in London.
