Floyd Mayweather believes UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor is an ‘extremely dirty’ fighter.
After footage of McGregor and now-former sparring partner Paulie Malignaggi was leaked by UFC President Dana White, “Money” has been able to study a small bit of film on his opponent for this month’s (Sat. August 26, 2017) boxing mega-fight in “Sin City.” Malignaggi has been retired since his last fight this past March, and hasn’t been training in the gym since due to his obligations as a Showtime Boxing analyst.
Mayweather brought up this point during his recent media call to promote Mayweather vs. McGregor and took a subtle jab at the Irishman for going the distance in training with the retired 36-year-old (quotes via MMA Fighting):
“We’re sitting here judging Paulie, a guy that’s been retired and just commentating and traveling the world, not going to the gym at all, going in there with a guy that’s just working out — an athlete period, that’s just working out,” Mayweather said. “Every day, every day. Honestly, it shouldn’t have even went 12 rounds with a young guy that’s an athlete.”
“Money” stated that he got the opportunity to see McGregor’s sparring footage and he witnessed a ton of illegal actions from UFC 155-pound champ. He also claimed that their referee for their bout will be fair for both sides in order for the pair to have a ‘solid fight’:
“I had a chance to see it and my thoughts is, it was real interesting,” Mayweather said. “But, you know, a lot of rabbit punching, illegal rabbit punching behind the head. A lot of shots were illegal. A lot of grappling, a lot of wrestling, a lot of illegal shots. That’s just my honest opinion.
“I’m pretty sure the referee is going to be fair on both sides. I want the referee to be fair and treat both competitors — myself and Conor McGregor — [the same]. Be even and treat us fair. I just want to have a good solid fight.”
McGregor brought in Hall Of Fame boxing referee Joe Cortez to officiate his sparring sessions in order for him to get a better grasp on the Queensberry rules. Despite this, Mayweather doubled down on his illegal moves remarks from earlier and labeled the Irishman as an ‘extremely dirty’ fighter:
“He had Joe Cortez in his training camp, which is a great thing,” Mayweather said. “Even though he had Joe Cortez in his training camp, I still seen him being extremely dirty. But my job is not to worry about the referee, my job is to go out there and fight and let the referee do his job.”
For weeks now Mayweather has been claiming that he will be coming straight at McGregor once the opening bell tolls, abandoning his usual game-plan of focusing more on his defense and counter punching. That tune doesn’t seem to have changed much, as he said he will be coming ‘straight ahead’ for McGregor once the fight gets underway:
“Like I said on numerous occasions building up to this fight, I’m coming straight ahead, so he don’t have nothing to worry about,” Mayweather said. “I look forward following the Queensberry rules of boxing and I’m pretty sure he looks forward to following the Queensberry rules of boxing.”
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