Tag: Floyd Mayweather

Conor McGregor Gives Boxing Critique of Canelo, Gennady Golovkin, Manny Pacquiao

Conor McGregor, boxing analyst.
Just throw it on the pile of talents and career options for the Irish MMA champion. There is no shortage of these options. He doesn’t need this options, he just has them. The success is almost overwhelming.
As McGregor h…

Conor McGregor, boxing analyst.

Just throw it on the pile of talents and career options for the Irish MMA champion. There is no shortage of these options. He doesn’t need this options, he just has them. The success is almost overwhelming.

As McGregor heads into Saturday’s boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, it seems he is already towering over a second sport as well.

While holding court with a lucky band of reporters recently, per a Saturday report from Alexander Lee of MMA Fighting, McGregor offered free advice to some of the sport’s top stars. And if we know anything about McGregor, we know how wise they would be to heed that advice.

First up in the free workshop—none of these other boxers were there, by the way—was Canelo Alvarez, current Ring magazine middleweight champion. Also in his sights was Gennady Golovkin, the fearsome knockout artist who happens to be facing Alvarez in September. 

“Who else is in today’s game? Canelo and Golovkin,” McGregor said. “I’m not really too much of a fan of either of those. I think Canelo’s a little bit stuck, a little bit flat on his feet. When I watch footage of him, I see him just getting peppered, he has no feet under him.

“Golovkin I think came to camp for this preparation badly out of shape. I’m looking at him badly out of shape up in Big Bear [California] and I just see a drained individual.”

Perhaps the fighter who came out the worst in McGregor‘s breakdown was Manny Pacquiao, the past-his-prime Filipino who just lost an upset bout to virtual unknown Jeff Horn.

“Pacquiao wouldn’t be a bad [matchup] because he has a name,” McGregor said. “Look what happened to him in that last fight. He got mauled. He got absolutely mauled in that fight. People were crying ‘big robbery,’ I didn’t see no robbery in that fight. I saw a man that just got mauled in a fight.”

Sorry, guys. Looks like none of you will be enjoying a red undergarment night anytime soon.

“None of those names interest me at this present time,” McGregor said. “Like I said, I’m facing the god of boxing at the moment. [Mayweather] is supposedly the God of boxing and he could have stayed the God, he could have rode off 49-0. Instead, now I am here, and now I am the God of boxing.”

Any questions? I didn‘t think so.

By the way, was there anyone who gained McGregor‘s favor during the course of this discussion? Rejoice, Vasyl Lomachenko, Guillermo Rigondeaux and Gervonta Davis. You made the cut.

McGregor puts his skills to the test August 26 against Mayweather in Las Vegas.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Cris Cyborg Offers Prediction For Mayweather vs. McGregor

Cris Cyborg knows who she’s picking for next weekend’s (Sat. August 26, 2017) boxing mega-fight between UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. The UFC women’s featherweight champion has established herself as one of the most vicious knockout artists the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) has ever seen, and has […]

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Cris Cyborg knows who she’s picking for next weekend’s (Sat. August 26, 2017) boxing mega-fight between UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The UFC women’s featherweight champion has established herself as one of the most vicious knockout artists the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) has ever seen, and has also expressed a great interest in pursing a boxing career on top of that. The Brazilian has been training with two-time Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields as of late, who said she believes Cyborg would be a “monster” inside the squared circle.

During a recent media scrum in Brazil, Cyborg continued to express her aspirations to lace up the gloves and earn an opportunity similar to that of Conor McGregor (quotes via MMA Fighting):

Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

“I’d like to box,” Cyborg said. “Claressa and I trained together and there’s no one better for you to train but an Olympic medalist. She’s fast. It’s good to train with someone better than you because you evolve, you see more things. But I would definitely box if I have an opportunity like McGregor.”

As for her prediction for next week’s fight, Cyborg finds it difficult to fathom that a man who has never competed in a professional boxing bout in his entire life will go in and defeat, arguably, the greatest the sport has ever seen:

“I don’t believe he will win the fight,” she said. “Mayweather will win this fight, for sure. He’s at another level. But (McGregor) is brave, and he opened doors for MMA (fighters) in boxing and for boxing fans to come to MMA, and vice versa. It will help our sport grow.”

“It’s different when you train with someone that knows boxing. But when you train with someone that doesn’t know boxing … it’s not that McGregor doesn’t know boxing, but he’s not a boxer his entire life,” Cyborg said. “When you’re sparring with someone that is not from boxing it’s more difficult because he throws a different jab compared to a boxer, has different faints, so there are more surprises.

“But I don’t believe McGregor will win. Mayweather is a boxing legend.”

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Quote: Khabib Is Popular In Russia Because Of Conor McGregor

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will obviously take on Floyd Mayweather in the biggest combat sports spectacle of all-time when the two polarizing stars meet in a boxing ring in Las Vegas next Saturday, August 26, 2017. But no matter what happens there, McGregor and his team have teased a return to the octagon before […]

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UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will obviously take on Floyd Mayweather in the biggest combat sports spectacle of all-time when the two polarizing stars meet in a boxing ring in Las Vegas next Saturday, August 26, 2017.

But no matter what happens there, McGregor and his team have teased a return to the octagon before the end of the year, and that return has even rumored to be against decorated but oft-injured No. 1 contender Khabib Nurmagomedov, and even in “The Egle’s” home of Russia. While that’s unlikely to happen logistically, it’s a huge fight that would arguably burst the seams of a UFC pay-per-view wallet that’s been noticeably thin in 2017.

If it did happen, however, McGregor’s close friend and training partner Artem Lobov, who hails from Russia himself, isn’t convinced of whom would be the more popular fighter in Russia. He recently told MMA Fighting that McGregor has already had a big impact in MMA become mainstream in the fight-centered country:

“When I talk to Russian fighters when I’m over there they are very thankful and complimentary of Conor,” Lobov said. “They see him as one of the main factors behind MMA becoming mainstream in Russia. The pay for most fighters has increased as the popularity of MMA has increased. They are definitely feeling the McGregor effect in the East.”

As for the potential fight between the two, Lobov isn’t certain Khabib would actually be the bigger draw in his homeland. In fact, he thinks Khabib has found the popularity he has in Russia because of McGregor

“It would be very hard to say who would be the bigger draw in Russia between Khabib and Conor. I honestly feel that Khabib is as big as he is in Russia because of Conor McGregor,” Lobov said.

“As I said, Conor is the guy who has made MMA a hot topic in Russia. More and more Russians started watching the UFC when Conor came along. The more they watched, the more they understood it. Then, all of a sudden you get this Russian guy coming along and of course the Russian people put their support behind him.”

Lobov elaborated on the strong stance, noting that the notoriously tough Russia people have noticed the constant pullouts and issues that have limited Khabib to only three fights in the last four years:

“A lot of people in Russian aren’t happy with how Khabib has been behaving with all of his pullouts,” Lobov said, “This isn’t a very manly thing to do, not showing up for a fight. In Russia, the people have been brought up tough. It used to be the Soviet Union. The thing everybody thinks of when they think about Russia is how tough the people are.

“When they see a fighter continuously pulling out, that’s something that they really don’t like. Then they look at a guy like Conor who always shows up and does what he says he’s going to do. That really resonates with the Russian public.”

So if the fight ever did happen in Russia, Lobov believes there would be overwhelming support for McGregor, perhaps even more than for Khabib when taking all the Irish fans that would travel to the event:

“There would be a lot of support for Conor. If you factor in the Irish that would travel over, there might be even more people supporting Conor at the event even though it would be taking place in Russia.”

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McGregor vs. Malignaggi Is the Perfect First Fight for Zuffa Boxing

Conor McGregor and Paulie Malignaggi do not like each other.
They never have.
Even when they tried to get along in the name of iron sharpening iron, it lasted somewhere around 20 rounds before Malignaggi was social media shamed right out of town and in…

Conor McGregor and Paulie Malignaggi do not like each other.

They never have.

Even when they tried to get along in the name of iron sharpening iron, it lasted somewhere around 20 rounds before Malignaggi was social media shamed right out of town and into a media tour of his very own.

And now, after their million-dollar smoker ahead of McGregor‘s billion-dollar real thing with Floyd Mayweather on August 26, one thing has become apparent: Malignaggi and McGregor are the perfect headlining duo for the first event promoted by Zuffa Boxing.

Record scratch.

Zuffa Boxing? Whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute here. Zuffa is an MMA promoter. Zuffa owns the UFC.

Yes it does, and based on the lead-up to McGregor‘s pro boxing debut, it’s about to get into the boxing game as well.

The first sign came when Dana White showed up on the Mayweather-McGregor press tour in a T-shirt emblazoned with a debutant logo: Zuffa Boxing. To that point there was no word about any such creation, but it got people’s attention.

Speaking in a scrum soon after the event, White did little to quell the curiosity.

“It’s an entity,” he said. “You never know [if we’ll do boxing events]. I didn’t say no, I didn’t say yes,” he continued, smirking the entire time.

Not long after White coyly acknowledged potential interest in Zuffa promoting boxing, McGregor began saying he intends to compete in both the ring and the cage.

Now, Mayweather fight notwithstanding, it seems unlikely Zuffa is going to free up its biggest star to make money for the Showtimes and HBOs of the world, so there’s going to need to be promotional architecture in place to allow that to happen. McGregor, for all his gumption, is likely not yet experienced enough or rich enough to make it happen alone through McGregor Sports and Entertainment, so he’ll need a partner.

Enter Zuffa Boxing.

Together with McGregor, Zuffa already stands to make more money on a single event than it ever has in MMA, and it’s largely due to the star power of the Irishman and the lucrative payouts attainable in boxing.

They can link up with McGregor to headline big boxing events going forward then flesh out the cards with other mixed martial artists who are under contract to them but have expressed an interest in boxing as well—and there has been no shortage of those.

That’s where Malignaggi fits in. 

He’s been ranting and raving about McGregor for months now, most recently frothing at the mouth over being made famous on the internet on unfair terms. He’s been tireless in his criticism of McGregor and has even taken aim at White as well during an appearance on the MMA Hour.

It’s boiled over to the point that McGregor-Malignaggi has produced more column inches than Mayweather-McGregor since those notorious sparring sessions, and that level of attention is evidence of an appetite to see them throw down at some point.

The whole thing has come together brilliantly for McGregor and his likely partners at Zuffa Boxing, where the setup for the Mayweather fight is essentially done and the Malignaggi bout is already lining up. 

Barring a catastrophic, embarrassing loss to Mayweather that eliminates interest in McGregor entirely and makes people forget the Malignaggi beef altogether—an idea even more farfetched than McGregor‘s starting this whole boxing career in the first place—the fight carries interest to the masses.

For Malignaggi, it allows him a final cash infusion before proper retirement and a chance to set things straight against McGregor, for better or worse. It’s paid redemption for him against a man who will be, win or lose, one of the two biggest names in combat sports after the Mayweather fight, assuming he’s not already.

That’s not a bad deal for a guy who thought his checks would be coming from analyst work for the foreseeable future.

It’s not a bad deal for McGregor either, making boxing coin against an aging, undersized foe with limited punching power who he may or may not have already wailed on in sparring.

But most important, it’s not a bad deal for Zuffa Boxing, a fledgling potential wing of the world’s foremost fight authority. Simply by hanging around its biggest star while he’s been off conquering the world, they’ve set themselves up to make major bank before they’ve even gotten off the ground. 

That’s pretty good for something borne out of a press tour, some imagination and a T-shirt.

                       

Follow me on Twitter @matthewjryder!

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Is Mayweather vs. McGregor Truly Good For MMA?

In exactly one week, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will meet all-time boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. in what will most likely be the most lucrative combat sporting event ever when they throw down in a boxing match next Saturday (August 26, 2017) from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The hype has reached […]

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In exactly one week, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will meet all-time boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. in what will most likely be the most lucrative combat sporting event ever when they throw down in a boxing match next Saturday (August 26, 2017) from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The hype has reached a fever pitch, one that’s completely overshadowed anything actually involving real MMA competition, of which the UFC has not staged an event for what will be three consecutive weeks when it’s all said and done, an unheard-of proposition in the current time where nearly every weekend has some sort of UFC event or another. It’s probably a good plan, however, as any UFC card would simply be drowned out by the spectacle of Mayweather vs. McGregor anyway.

And let’s be honest – it is a spectacle above all else. McGregor, despite being one of the most powerful knockout artists in UFC history, has never fought a professional boxing match, yet in one week’s time, he’ll take on a combatant with an unblemished 49-0 record whom many feel is arguably the greatest boxer of all-time. That’s a gross discrepancy that’s difficult to overcome, so while McGregor and, as a result, the UFC and MMA as a whole, will undoubtedly earn a ton of attention and money because of next week’s spectacle, it’s also fair to wonder if the mismatched (at least on paper) bout is actually good for the sport of MMA in the long run.

I’m not saying it’s not with any degree of uncertainty – it very well may be, especially in terms of the financial success that new UFC owners WME-IMG seem to covet above all else – and need to pay back the loans they helped to cover the promotion’s record-breaking $4.2 billion price tag. But another view of the situation created by this once-in-a-lifetime bout paints a scene that is an overall reflection of one of the main criticisms WME-IMG has undergone since buying the company – that they focus on promoting only one or two big stars.

Photo: Steve Flynn – USA TODAY Sports

McGregor is obviously their biggest star and draw, and based on the absolutely dismal numbers they had during the early months of 2017 when he was absent, they clearly need him more than he needs them. True, they had to effectively shut down their own events to take advantage of this golden opportunity, but how many more bouts does McGregor really have left in the octagon after what is rumored to be a $100-million plus payday versus Mayweather, even if he insists he wants to fight in MMA before the end of the year?

It’s going to be tough to go back to making even $10 million a fight in the UFC after that kind of money, and if and when McGregor steps aside from the fight game like he’s always hinted at, the UFC is going to be in yet another situation where they have no huge draw and haven’t built up any new stars to come even close to the stratosphere of replacing McGregor. Jon Jones is back, but he doesn’t quite qualify on that level overall, and he’s only made it to one fight after two years of concerning issues kept him from fighting.

That’s not even taking into account the possibility that McGregor gets completely embarrassed by the best defensive boxer of the modern era, a result that would paint a bad look for MMA. If he survives the full 12 rounds, it would be a huge boon to MMA. Again, that could certainly happen.

But overall, McGregor just wouldn’t appear to have three UFC fights in him a year for the next three years after facing Mayweather, which is why the UFC may have just mortgaged their future, or at least a big piece of it, to cash in on one massive yet short-sighted payday in the immediate future.

The economic gain is defintiely going to be huge for all involved next weekend. Whether or not that’s actually good for MMA is yet to be seen.

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Five Reasons Mayweather vs. McGregor Isn’t As Big As Advertised

We’re finally closing in on August 26th, which means the incessant, non-stop media coverage of Mayweather vs McGregor will wind up before coming to a screeching halt sometime in the days (or maybe weeks) after. While the promoters and people behind this bizarre super fight maintain that this is the fight fans asked for, it […]

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We’re finally closing in on August 26th, which means the incessant, non-stop media coverage of Mayweather vs McGregor will wind up before coming to a screeching halt sometime in the days (or maybe weeks) after.

While the promoters and people behind this bizarre super fight maintain that this is the fight fans asked for, it goes without saying that these same fans will most likely be unsatisfied with the final product.

Check out our five reasons why Mayweather vs. McGregor isn’t as big of a fight as it’s being advertised:

Photo: Joe Camporeale for USA TODAY Sports

5. It’s Been Overhyped From Day One

Fight fans and non-fight fans alike have been inundated with media coverage of Mayweather vs McGregor since the moment the contracts were finalized.

From the premature week-long press tour (which was held in July, a month prior to fight night), to glove-size changes and spurned sparring partners, fans have been force-fed story after story on every possible detail regarding this crossover fight.

The media circus that has surrounded MayMac has been non-stop and so in-your-face it’s been impossible to ignore it.

Anytime a fight is hyped up that much, expectations always end up being too high in terms of the outcome.

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