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26th Jun 2017

Conor McGregor’s gameplan to beat Floyd Mayweather has already been set

Can't fault the confidence

Ben Kiely

It sounds like John Kavanagh and his SBG team have their plan already worked out for Floyd Mayweather.

When Conor McGregor steps inside the ring to fight Mayweather, his corner will be a familiar sight. SBG head coach John Kavanagh, striking coach Owen Roddy and teammate Artem Lobov will all be present.

After revealing McGregor’s corner choices, Roddy mentioned a gameplan the team have been developing to hand arguably the greatest defensive boxer ever his first loss as a professional. At that point, he claimed the plan had already been set.

Kavanagh’s comments on Monday’s MMA Hour back up Roddy’s claim.

Kavanagh spoke with a wide smile about the diamond-encrusted panty night. He seemed captivated by the daunting challenge, but quietly confident that whatever Team McGregor has up their sleeves would turn a few heads on fight night.

“I’m really, really looking forward to this. It’s so interesting. Myself and Owen Roddy have lost ourselves a little bit in this world. I spend my days with Conor in the new gym and we do our daytime sessions together.”

When pushed by host Ariel Helwani to give more insight into some of the ‘holes’ they see in the undefeated prizefighter’s game, Kavanagh remained coy.

“I think we’ll keep our cards a little bit close to our chest for this one… For now, we’re playing around, we’re experimenting. Obviously, we’re talking about one of boxing’s all time greatest, but there’s also openings.”

Kavanagh’s no fool. He knows Mayweather has every conceivable advantage against ‘the Notorious’. Although ‘Money’ doesn’t get cracked that much, he still gets hit.

“As Dana White’s posted a few clips, nobody’s perfect, everybody gets hit. We’re just looking to make those openings happen more often than they usually do.”

“The mood in the camp is one of ready to see a lot of jaws drop on the night.”

There’s no faulting their confidence, anyway.

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