“Stand up for the Boys in Green!”
We’ve heard this one before but it never gets old.
The Irish hordes have arrived in Las Vegas and, by God, are they making themselves heard.
SportsJOE’s Darragh Murphy is over in Vegas to report on Conor McGregor’s pro boxing debut against none other than Floyd Mayweather Jr. and he has witnessed the Irish invasion pick up speed over the past few days.
Hundreds of college students, on J1 work visas, have made their way to the Nevada hot-spot while hundreds upon hundreds more have travelled in from across the United States and flown in from Ireland. The GAA jerseys are definitely on show too:
There are a lot of GAA jerseys in Las Vegas for #MayMac pic.twitter.com/AQbr8zI5yI
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 25, 2017
McGregor and Mayweather both weighed in for their Saturday night [Sunday morning, Irish time] bout at the T-Mobile Arena and both came in under the 154lbs limit.
Mayweather had two Irish flags tossed in his direction on his walk to the stage, was booed whenever he came on the big screen and he won’t get ‘Olé, Olé, Olé’ out of his head for a while yet.
The scenes at the newly built arena were simply incredible and were similar to the sonorous, carefree ones that Irish fans brought to Euro 2016 in France last summer.
The Irish enjoyed that weigh-in pic.twitter.com/DEV87p3wUA
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 25, 2017
It truly warms the heart and McGregor was quick to thank the legions of Irish that came from far and wide to back his bid against the undefeated Mayweather.
It's like the Euros all over again. pic.twitter.com/hhurPe1g1j
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 25, 2017
“They can’t f**king fight for you,” warned Mayweather during the fight’s promotional tour.
No, but they can inspire a man something fierce.
