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Boxing

14th Jul 2017

Conor McGregor finishes world tour like a bloody Giant Slayer

Wiped the floor with Floyd

Patrick McCarry

He dominated Toronto and he comfortably took London. We can’t call a clear, overall winner but we’ll be happy not to hear ‘HARD WORK’ again for a bloody while yet.

Conor won the night and, my, how he needed it after the farce that was Brooklyn and the Barclays Center.

The Dubliner did more [verbal] damage to Floyd Mayweather Jr and his team in his six minutes on the microphone than ‘Money’ did in his drawn-out monologue. The fans were biased in McGregor’s favour but all but one memorable line was uttered by the 29-year-old.

McGregor ignored the threats of a heavy fine for putting his hands on Floyd Mayweather Jr on the final leg of the pair’s world tour.

‘The Notorious’ could not resist rubbing Mayweather’s head as he sat at his press conference table. UFC president Dana White scolded his man but Mayweather, to his credit, laughed it off.

Following the on-stage furore of Brooklyn, both men went to the stage – a makeshift boxing ring – on their own. Again, McGregor went first and milked up the crowd as Mayweather made everyone wait.

When the 49-0 boxing superstar reached the stage, McGregor went dangerously close to smacking his rump but the mime was enough. A tad more than enough.

McGregor came out firing again and the usual suspects copped it – Stephen Espinoza [Showtime], Mayweather, his crew, his bodyguards [“Voltron Power Rangers assemble!”] and even the grinning Leonard Ellerbe [Mayweather Promotions] got a gentle roasting.

He spoke about fighting in front of a crowd of only 500 in London just four years ago then spoke about the size and scale of his next fight. He declared:

“I’m going to quadruple my net worth for one half of a fight. One half of one fight?! Sign me up!”

Mayweather’s head copped some more flak, as did the American’s height and stature. McGregor joked about him wearing heels during their Brooklyn encounter. He added:

“You should have worn them [shoes] on the first day, you stupid, baldy twat!”

With that, and a toss of the microphone, he was done.

Credit: UFC [via YouTube]
Mayweather ran through his tried, tested and, by now, tired format.

‘HARD WORK!” he began and then mentioned UFC tap-outs, how Dana White was McGregor’s pimp, there was a shout-out to Nate Diaz and talk of conquering Dublin and Ireland. His best line of the night was thus:

“The Earth is my turf. Anywhere I go I run shit.”

If that was his high point, there were two slips. He tried to enlist Espinoza to mock the Irishman but his request fell on deaf ears.

He then attempted to organise a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ for McGregor but got ‘F**k the Mayweathers!’ in return.

Toronto will always be Toronto but London ensured the tour finished on an exciting, interesting note.

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