American boxer Andre Berto believes Conor McGregor can defeat Floyd Mayweather Jr. when the pair clash on Aug. 26 in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena.
According to Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting, Berto, who we…
American boxer Andre Berto believes Conor McGregor can defeat Floyd Mayweather Jr. when the pair clash on Aug. 26 in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena.
According to Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting, Berto, who went 12 rounds with Mayweather in 2015 before losing via unanimous decision, said McGregor is a special talent and can find a way to beat his legendary opponent:
“When it comes to Conor, I tell people: He’s a star. For some reason under that pressure and under those lights and under that atmosphere, he knows how to rise to the occasion. It doesn’t matter what the situation is, he’s one of those special guys that really can thrive in these types of environments, man.“
“I just don’t put too much past him. I’ve been able to see and able to go to a few of this fights and really see how he really soaks up that atmosphere and he gets energy from it, where a lot of people really break down or it allows them to fold. He gets energy from that and he knows how to thrive. If it was a guy in the UFC or MMA that can do it, I believe he would be the one, for sure.”
Berto added that McGregor could win by knockout if Mayweather feels the Irishman’s full power, but the 33-year-old refused to predict a definitive winner for the Las Vegas clash, per Raimondi. Berto and McGregor are friends, but the former two-time WBC welterweight champion also said Mayweather could “pick Conor apart” if he sticks to his usual tactics in the ring.
Paulie Malignaggi said he wants to fight Conor McGregor in a real boxing match and promised he would beat the Irish UFC star’s “ass like he stole something,” per TMZ Sports.
Malignaggi had been McGregor’s sparring partner as the reigning UFC light…
Paulie Malignaggi said he wants to fight Conor McGregor in a real boxing match and promised he would beat the Irish UFC star’s “ass like he stole something,” per TMZ Sports.
Malignaggi had been McGregor’s sparring partner as the reigning UFC lightweight champion prepares to face Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Aug. 26 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Italian pugilistwalked awayfrom the arrangement, but he told TMZ Sports he knows he could beat McGregor: “He knows it [that I could beat him]. More importantly than me knowing it, he knows it. That’s the best part.”
Malignaggi also said McGregor knew the beatings in their sparring sessions would only get worse.
This isn’t the first time Malignaggi has fired a verbal volley or two McGregor’s way. He also told Ariel Helwani ofThe MMA Hour(h/tMartin Dominof the Daily Mirror) how he got the better of the UFC star in the pair’s second and final sparring session: “He pushed me down during one of his worst rounds because he needed a break. I said ‘there’s no breaks here’ and started hitting him to the body, and he began to whimper.”
Malignaggi also referred to McGregor as a “scumbag,” during the same interview.
The words are inflammatory as well as a direct challenge to McGregor. Yet whether Malignaggi would get his wish of an actual bout against the Irishman is tough to call.
Malignaggi is no longer the draw he was, while McGregor’s future in the boxing ring will likely be determined by how he fares against Mayweather at the end of the month.
The sports world will probably end up having some fun at Conor McGregor’s expense Aug. 26.
If the betting odds, historical precedent and nearly every fight analyst alive are correct, McGregor’s quest to box Floyd Mayweather Jr. won’t end well for the p…
The sports world will probably end up having some fun at Conor McGregor’s expense Aug. 26.
If the betting odds, historical precedent and nearly every fight analyst alive are correct, McGregor’s quest to box Floyd Mayweather Jr. won’t end well for the plucky mixed martial artist. The overwhelming likelihood is that McGregor gets pieced-up badly by the greatest boxer of his generation that Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
In an age where fans watch sports as much to live-tweet snarky comments as bask in the athletic greatness, it’s also easy to imagine McGregor as the butt of a few (thousand) internet memes. The sheer size of the media circus around this bout demands it.
But while popular culture crowds around to point and laugh at the reigning UFC lightweight champion’s folly, it’s useful to remember one thing: Mayweather will win this boxing match, but McGregor would dominate him in nearly any other kind of fight.
In fact, holding this bout under strict Marquess of Queensberry rules is Mayweather’s only chance to win.
If it were an MMA match? McGregor obviously takes that.
A kickboxing fight? McGregor wins that, too.
A grappling match? McGregor.
A “real” no-rules street fight in one of the dojo basements or boat salvage yards where Kimbo Slice made his name? McGregor all the way.
“That would be suicide for Floyd Mayweather Jr. […],” former WBO super-middleweight boxing champion Chris Eubank told Joe.co.uk’s Darragh Murphy recently. “You’re fit for boxing, you’re not fit for mixed martial arts or street fights or no-holds-barred fights. Conor McGregor would destroy him. There’s no discussion with that.”
The Notorious One has spent the last nine years compiling a professional MMA record of 21-3. In November 2016, he became the first fighter ever to simultaneously hold two championships in two different UFC weight classes after he jumped from 145 to 155 pounds and knocked out then-champ Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205.
While ascending to the upper echelon of MMA, McGregor has cultivated an overall skill set far more diverse and nuanced than the one Mayweather uses to win his boxing matches.
While primarily known as a heavy-handed southpaw striker, McGregor is also a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under coach John Kavanagh. In order go to 9-1 in UFC competition since 2013, he’s had to defeat a set of opponents that included NCAA All-American wrestler Chad Mendes, decorated kickboxer Dennis Siver, and BJJ black belts Diego Brandao and Jose Aldo (though, admittedly, the latter took only 13 seconds).
McGregor’s only slip-up in the UFC to date was a submission loss to Nate Diaz in a welterweight fight in March 2016, but he battled back to defeat Diaz in their rematch by majority decision less than six months later.
Any contest that allowed for more than just pure boxing would let McGregor turn those skills loose on Mayweather, who has none of the same diversity in his arsenal. McGregor could easily take him to the ground and submit him if he chose, or he could use his vaunted kicking game to stay out of punching range and punish Mayweather to the legs, body and head.
“That thing would be over real quick […],” UFC President Dana White told Jimmy Kimmel during a recent TV appearance, about how an MMA fight between Mayweather and McGregor would go. “Floyd would take a couple of leg kicks, and that would be the end of that.”
By McGregor’s own estimation, it would take him “less than 30 seconds to wrap around [Mayweather] like a boa constrictor and strangle him,” as he told Esquire‘s Chris Jones back in April 2015.
So, as Mayweather blows the Irishman out of the water inside the squared circle later this month, it will be instructive to remember that McGregor will always be the better all-around fighter.
“What you’re doing is you’re putting Conor McGregor into a situation where he’s holding back nine-tenths of his arsenal […]” former professional boxer and current MMA fighter Heather Hardy said, according to Business Insider’s Scott Davis. “If both of those guys got in a fight on the street, McGregor would whup his ass.”
Why, then, would the 29-year-old Dublin native thrust himself into certain destruction, facing Mayweather in the only kind of bout where the recently retired 40-year-old pugilist has every advantage?
Partly, it’s because Mayweather calls the shots here. It’s also because—as White likes to say—McGregor is just a wild man.
Mostly, though, it’s all about the money.
The economics of combat sports dictate that boxing Mayweather is the only way for McGregor to set his family up for generations to come.
In MMA, where McGregor is unquestionably the biggest star, athletes earn far less than top-of-the-food-chain boxers. Even as the UFC’s highest-paid athlete, McGregor banked just $3 million in reported base salary for his rematch with Diaz at UFC 202—and that fight became the UFC’s biggest seller of all time on pay-per-view.
Compare that with Mayweather, who made over $220 million to fight Manny Pacquiao in 2015, and it becomes apparent why McGregor would want to strap on a pair of boxing gloves and sign up for a sure-fire beating.
McGregor may make $75-100 million for his trouble, per Forbes‘ Brian Mazique, and that could convince anyone that a punches-only bout against one of the greatest of all time is a good idea.
“[I’m] about to quadruple my net worth with half a fight,” McGregor said during the last stop on the promotional world tour he did alongside Mayweather last month. “I’m in shock every single day I wake up. Half a fight, I get to quadruple my net worth for half a f–king fight. Sign me up.”
McGregor could never do that fighting exclusively in MMA—where it is believed promoters keep the largest portion of the profits. A 2015 report by Bloody Elbow’s John S. Nash estimated that UFC athletes are paid somewhere between 13 and 16 percent of total revenue, while the fight company pockets most of the rest.
McGregor may have single-handedly boosted those percentages in recent years after participating in four of the promotion’s top five all-time biggest PPVs. But as long as that estimated 85-15 split exists, it will be impossible for an MMA athlete to make Mayweather money.
Throughout his meteoric rise to the top of mixed-rules fighting, McGregor has been nothing if not money-conscious. Besides his Mack truck left hand and Hall of Fame gift of gab, it’s his defining characteristic.
You can’t blame him for looking around the fight-sports landscape for the most lucrative opportunity. It’s just that to make it happen, he had to enter this classic Faustian bargain—get beat up playing Mayweather’s game but become filthy rich in the process.
The rub for McGregor is that the irony may be lost on many casual fans. The fighter should be applauded for having the guts to cross over into boxing and take on one of the best in the world, but it doesn’t seem likely that will be the overwhelming response to this fight.
Before we all get swept up in the hysteria, just keep repeating it quietly to yourself: Conor McGregor would beat Floyd Mayweather in any kind of fight…except the one the that two men will actually compete.
Then try to remember that as you’re Photoshopping Crying Jordan Face over McGregor’s gorilla chest tattoo.
Former boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi (36-8), now an announcer for Showtime, knew something was up the minute he walked into the UFC’s new performance institute to square off for a second time with the promotion’s lightweight champion.
The first tim…
Former boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi (36-8), now an announcer for Showtime, knew something was up the minute he walked into the UFC’s new performance institute to square off for a second time with the promotion’s lightweight champion.
The first time he’d sparred with Conor McGregor, who is preparing for a bout with boxing’s greatest contemporary fighter Floyd Mayweather, things were quite a bit different. That session was about putting in work, a private, gritty affair where the few men in the gym had to leave their cell phones in a box to ensure no unauthorized video or pictures leaked out.
“I wasn’t really in the best of shape,” Malignaggi, who retired in March admits. “I was in decent shape but not fighting shape. I told myself ‘I’m not going to be the only sparring partner there so I don’t have to be in great shape.’
“We did eight rounds the first day and I just wanted to make him work. If I am there for him to throw punches at and I’m in position to shoot punches back, then I’ve done my job. Once I reached a certain level of sharpness I thought I could really be a big benefit to his camp. I was excited to fly out a second time and was ready for a tough session.”
This time, a week later, dignitaries abounded. Surrounding the ring were the likes of UFC President Dana White, former owner Lorenzo Fertitta and McGregor’s agent Audie Attar. This sparring session, Malignaggi feared, wasn’t about preparing a fight. This was about proving a point and proving it at Paulie’s expense.
“I realized it was more of a personal agenda,” he says. “There was a dark intention to what Conor was doing.”
In a normal sparring session, fresh training partners rotate in and out so the fighter preparing for the bout is always testing himself against a hungry, rested competitor. It’s the fighter who is supposed to get tired and be pushed to the limits, not the sparring partner. So when McGregor’s team asked him to go all 12 rounds without a break, just like an actual fight, he knew their intent was to try to knock him out, not use him to get better.
But, unknown to Team McGregor, Malignaggi had done some sparring and training of his own in the days in between their sessions. He wasn’t happy with his performance the first time and wanted to be able to offer McGregor good work, not just a warm body. When he got the call this time, he’d vowed, he’d be ready.
Ultimately, that decision saved him from a fate worse than leaving camp and returning home. Instead of being able to boast he’d knocked Malignaggi out in training, the UFC champion could only post what the boxer calls misleading photographs from the session, a fight he says he got the best of.
“The second time we sparred, he had a very tough day with me,” he says. “But even though he was losing, there were times when things had gone bad for him, that he’d say ‘another one for me. 7 to nuthin—me.’ I’d comment back ‘they didn’t teach you how to count where you went to school?’ He wouldn’t be feeling the way he was talking if he’d been going back to his corner and being reprimanded and corrected for his mistakes.”
Worse for McGregor, Malignaggi contends, is that his mistakes are rarely mentioned or corrected, making his progress incremental instead of spectacular.
“He’s such a big deal and a lot of times these big deal fighters end up with cheerleaders in their corner instead of trainers who aren’t scared to tell them when things are going wrong. That’s a bigger problem than the tactical stuff,” Malignaggi says. “Conor has his own style. He knows what he wants to do and how he wants to do it. It’s just a matter of sharpening it up and making it work and linking it with some boxing stuff.
“Clearly they have a plan but some things are going to work and some things aren’t going to work. I think it’s important not to let a fighter get a false sense of confidence. I got the sense that there’s a lot of yes men in his corner. Even when things were going wrong, he was being told he was doing good. At the end of the day, people need to be blunt with you when there are things that need to be corrected.”
After the session, Malignaggi says he felt good about the work he’d done. McGregor, he says, thanked him for coming out and he’d felt they’d buried the hatchet after some rough back and forth in the media. When a photo leaked that made it appear he’d been knocked down by a McGregor punch, Malignaggi was disappointed—but not shocked.
“It’s one thing to talk about what happened in sparring, Malignaggi says. “It’s another thing to lie about what happened in sparring. Neither of those things is actually supposed to happen. I should have already know it was coming. I gave Conor the benefit of the doubt. I thought he would have a little bit of code and some ethics. But the guy’s got no morals, he’s got no ethics. He’s a scumbag who thinks he’s above everything and everybody. None of the rules apply to him.
“I should have known better. Chris Van Heerden, when Conor sparred him, had egg on his face afterwards when Conor’s team posted some misleading stuff. Luckily for him, he had video of the whole thing and people saw what really happened.”
Ultimately, Malignaggi decided he couldn’t continue working with McGregor, whose taunts continue unabated. But he walks away more excited than ever for the bout between the two champions.
“I’m sure Floyd has seen everything. We know that. But Conor has some things on his side,” Malignaggi says. “He’s young. He’s got a little bit of power. He has the ability to pressure and counter from his mixed martial arts fights. He’s just got to find a way to blend that into something that works in boxing.
“I dont’ think he’s a bad boxer and Floyd Mayweather was a great boxer—but that was the past. Mayweather is a guy who is aging. He’s 40 years old. He hasn’t had a fight in two years. It’s a matter of Conor finding the right moment in the fight. If you’re able to capture a certain moment, maybe you can change the momentum or even end the fight.”
Malignaggi, though disappointed with how things turned out, remains confident his experience inside the MMA fighter’s camp will help him when the time comes to call the fight on August 26.
“People are talking about me and Conor, because of all the beef that is going on, but we can visit that if the time ever comes,” Malignaggi says. “Right now I’m focused on Floyd and McGregor not me and McGregor. I think it’s a great fight and a great event more so than that.
“I’m really excited to share what I’ve learned on fight night. I’ll be able to give viewers some x’s and o’s about what I’ve observed in Conor’s camp. Some things I think will work, some things I think will not work. I think it will be an interesting broadcast.”
Jonathan Snowden covers combat sports for Bleacher Report.
Bob Arum believes Conor McGregor has no chance of beating Floyd Mayweather when the two meet in Las Vegas on Saturday, August 26.
Speaking to TMZ Sports, 85-year-old Arum refused to even acknowledge the bout as a true fight: “It’s not a fight for Chris…
Bob Arum believes Conor McGregor has no chance of beating Floyd Mayweather when the two meet in Las Vegas on Saturday, August 26.
Speaking to TMZ Sports, 85-year-old Arum refused to even acknowledge the bout as a true fight: “It’s not a fight for Christ’s sake. There’s not even a chance McGregor wins.”
Arum also addressed the fact tickets are proving tough to shift during the interview, expressing little surprise the supposed showpiece bout isn’t proving a draw.
“There’s a limited number of suckers,” he said.
TMZ Sports referenced Arum’s long-running animosity with UFC honcho Dana White. In this context, it’s easy to believe Arum would not rate one of the star turns of UFC stepping into the ring to face one of boxing most decorated fighters.
Similarly, it is difficult to believe Irishman McGregor will have the know-how, ring presence, timing and combination punching to lay a glove on Mayweather too often. The latter has proved himself a master of setting his own pace in a fight and wearing an opponent down.
McGregor struggling is an idea gaining steam after sparring partner Paulie Malignaggi offered this unflattering take on his skills and stamina between the ropes, per an interview with Ariel Helwani of theMMA Hour(h/tMartin Dominof theDaily Mirror): “He did well for five rounds but from six on he became more hit-able. I’m trash talking all the time, telling him he can’t hang with me, he’s not used to these body shots. He stopped talking because he wanted to save his energy.”
An anticipated one-sided event could be why people are staying away. On the other hand, Arum’s disparaging assessment of McGregor’s chances, along with the general consensus he has little chance, may serve as the all the motivation the 29-year-old needs to surprise many and prove his doubters wrong.
Former two-weight world champion boxer Paulie Malignaggi has described Conor McGregor as “one of the biggest dirtbags I’ve ever met in my life” and that he was “very hittable” after the fifth round of one of their sparring sessions.
He told Ariel…
Former two-weight world champion boxer Paulie Malignaggi has described Conor McGregor as “one of the biggest dirtbags I’ve ever met in my life” and that he was “very hittable” after the fifth round of one of their sparring sessions.
He told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour (MMA Junkie’s Simon Samano): “This guy is one of the biggest dirtbags I’ve ever met in my life—bar none. I was amazed at what a dirtbag this person is. I don’t care if we never speak again. My life is fine if I never see Conor McGregor again.”
Malignaggi was brought in as a sparring partner for The Notorious ahead of his clash with Floyd Mayweather Jr., but he left the camp just two weeks in after pictures from one of their sessions were leaked to social media.
The full interview with Helwani can be seen here (warning, contains NSFW language):
Malignaggi pulled no punches during the conversation, per SevereMMA’s Sean Sheehan:
PerPeter Carrollof MMA Fighting, Malignaggi opened up on his decision to part with McGregor after asking him to ensure no more pictures leaked from their private sessions:
“I told Conor that it becomes very hard for me to not disclose the NDA that I have when you’re putting up pictures of me.
“I am not one of the other sparring partners. Nobody knows who the other sparring partners are. Everyone knows who I am. When you put up a picture of me in sparring, the media rush comes to me and I have to answer questions that I don’t want to deal with.
“I have to try [to] make you look good. I want you to look good. I want to say things that make you look good. I want to promote you and help you out, but not at my expense.”
The 36-year-old was less than pleased with McGregor’s reaction to his request, however, and branded him a “d–khead” as a result. He continued:
“He looks at me and he gives me this smirk, laughs at me and he starts walking away from me.
“He gives me his back, he’s walking away towards the showers and he’s like, ‘Ha ha, I don’t know, Paulie. We got some good ones in those last two rounds. I don’t know about that.’
“At this stage I’m waiting for Ashton Kutcher to walk into the dressing rooms and tell me I gotPunk’d. I thought it was a joke. I thought there was no way this guy is that much of an assh–e.”
MMA Fighting’s Danny Segura believes the rivalry that has since emerged between the pair would make a fight between them an even more entertaining spectacle than his clash with Mayweather:
Despite his decision to leave, the boxer insisted he had arrived at McGregor’s camp with the best intentions, per MMAFighting.com:
Malignaggi also discussed his second session with the Irishman, in which he was given 24 hours notice that he was expected to go a full 12 rounds—an unusual request of a sparring partner as they typically rotate to stay fresh when a fighter goes the distance in training, thereby making it more of a challenge.
The American was also surprised to see an entourage there to witness the session, which included UFC President Dana White and former CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, given they were typically “so private I couldn’t even bring in a trainer for my corner,” while phones had to be left in a box to prevent pictures and videos being captured.
Malignaggi believes McGregor brought them to witness what he hoped would be a knockout victory during the session.
The 29-year-old was able to get off to a bright start: “He hung tough the first five rounds. He came out sharper, with more of a purpose. He hung tough for the first rounds, he even landed a couple of good shots, but I was starting to take over.”
The 36-8 retiree explained how he got the better of McGregor: “My work was more consistent. My style was more consistent. My counter punching was sharper. My jab was sharper. There was just more consistency on my part.”
He added: “From about six rounds on, he became very hittable. So much more hittable that I was putting more weight on my shots and sitting down more on my shots, and of course, the body shots started to affect him more and more.”
Despite the pair trash-talking throughout the session, Malignaggi felt they had “buried the hatchet” afterwards and believed there was a mutual respect between the two prior to their discussion about the photos.
It may come as an encouraging sign for McGregor that he was able to cause Malignaggi problems early on, though it is claimed the boxer’s superior technique shone through.
That is likely to be even more pronounced against Money, but it will nevertheless make for a much more thrilling contest if McGregor is able to produce some strong rounds.
