Tag: boxing

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor completed their weeklong, worldwide media tour Friday by trading verbal jabs at the SSE Arena in London. 

McGregor continued his trend of delivering an expletive-filled rant directed toward Mayweather and everybody else associated with the Money Team, including the bodyguards. The UFC star even made direct contact with his opponent, rubbing his head during the WWE-style promo.

Meanwhile, Mayweather riled up the crowd by calling McGregor a “quitter” repeatedly and embraced the role of a heel by taking shots at his foe’s native Ireland. He also aggressively addressed UFC president Dana White, whom he referred to as a “pimp” for his role as The Notorious’ promoter.

UFC Europe showcased the first in-ring interaction between the budding rivals:

In a rare moment of seriousness, McGregor stood inside the ring on his 29th birthday and talked about his meteoric rise over the past few years. From a virtual unknown rising up the MMA ranks, he’s now set to enjoy a life-changing payday, regardless of the result next month.

MMAFighting.com passed along his comments on the subject to a favorable crowd:

It was a much more typical performance from McGregor following Thursday’s event in New York City, which generated unfavorable reviews.

Ariel Helwani‏ of MMAFighting.com noted the return to form from the quick-talking Irishman:

Mayweather, who’s largely brushed off most of the insults thrown his way over the past few days, became much more aggressive for the final press conference.

Fox Sports UFC highlighted some of his attack:

Sports Illustrated provided more of Money’s antics:

He also joked that after winning the boxing match next month, he would take McGregor to the Octagon and take over MMA, too. The UFC lightweight champion called the bluff and said the rematch offer when he pulls off the upset would be on his terms—a mixed martial arts battle.

Unfortunately, Mayweather crossed the line by using a homophobic slur. Chamatkar Sandhu of USA Today tweeted about the offensive comments.

Brian Campbell of CBS Sports wrapped up the tour in a fitting way:

All told, McGregor‘s comments have dominated headlines over the past handful of days. The racial undercurrent in some of his comments was unnecessary and sparked controversy, but it’s undeniable that his ability to otherwise engage a crowd showed why he’s one of the top self-promoters in modern sports.

He’s going to have a much tougher time gaining the upper hand on Mayweather when they go to battle on Aug. 26, though. The undefeated five-division world boxing champion is one of the best defensive tacticians in history and should be able to control the pace of the bout.

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During the final day of the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor worldwide press tour, Mayweather used a homophobic slur directed at McGregor.  

ESPN’s Dan Rafael reported what Mayweather said during Friday’s press conference (WARNING: CONTAINS OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE):

This week’s press tour has seen both fighters generate their share of controversy for comments directed at each other. 

During an interview segment with Guillermo Rodriguez on Wednesday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, McGregor was asked who would win in a fight between himself or Rocky Balboa in Rocky III:

“Rocky III?” McGregor said, via MMA Junkie’s A.J. Perez. “I’m trying to remember which one was Rocky III. Was that the one in the celebrity gym? I can’t remember if that’s the one with the dancing monkeys or not.”

This came after McGregor told Mayweather to “Dance for me, boy” on two separate occasions, sparking accusations of racism.

Mayweather told TMZ Sports “I don’t worry about that” when asked about whether or not he thinks McGregor is racist. 

Mayweather and McGregor are scheduled to fight in a boxing match on Aug. 26 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. 

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Floyd Mayweather Jr. believes upcoming opponent Conor McGregor is “losing a lot of fans” over accusations of racism on the boxing fight’s world press conference tour.

McGregor initially caused controversy after recently telling Mayweather to “dance for me, boy.” MMA Junkie’s Steven Marrocco reported McGregor then responded to accusations of racism in Brooklyn, claiming he’s half-black and humping the air while saying he had “a little present for my beautiful black female fans.”

This reignited the racism row, however, and Mayweather has since responded by saying his Aug. 26 foe crossed a line:

“This is an event where two fighters are competing against one another, but saying a lot of racist things like today toward black women. I have two black daughters, a black mother, of course I’m a black man.”

“He’s crossing the line, but I can’t really focus on that right now. I’m here to do a job, and my job is to go out there and entertain. But he’s losing a lot of fans by doing that.”

McGregor walked out to the Brooklyn press conference to the music of Irish musician Sinead O’Connor followed by late Brooklyn-born rapper Notorious BIG, later addressing allegations of racism, via Sports Illustrated:

Mayweather previously spoke to TMZ regarding McGregor’s choice of words in referring to him as “boy,” and the 40-year-old said he wasn’t offended:

When asked on Jimmy Kimmel Live! if he would beat Sylvester Stallone’s character from Rocky III in a fight, McGregor replied, per MailOnline’s Daniel Matthews: “Rocky III, that’s the one where he had that celebrity gym isn’t it? With the dancing monkeys in the gym and all?”

As Matthews noted: “(Mcgregor’s) comments led some people to suggest the MMA star was referring to a scene in the film when Rocky Balboa walks into a gym full of black fighters.”

MMA expert Luke Thomas recently expressed his view McGregor had no racist intentions referring to Mayweather as “boy,” although the back-and-forth is at risk of becoming ugly:

A little more than a month remains until arguably the biggest combat sports event of the century so far gets underway Aug. 26.

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