In the build-up to the fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor this weekend, SportsClub.co.za brings you closer to the action with a daily view by GARY LEMKE.
Conor McGregor has been adamant that he will knock out Floyd Mayweather when the two collide in Las Vegas this weekend. Initially, when the match-up was announced between the poster boy of the UFC and one of boxing’s Hall of Famers, McGregor reckoned he would win by knockout inside four rounds.
As the months, weeks and days have ticked away, the 29-year-old Irishman has revised his prediction. ‘Mayweather won’t go beyond the second round,’ he vowed, after the size of the gloves were reduced from 10 oz to 8 oz, something which undeniably favors the bigger puncher.
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And that’s where things stand. A 0-0 novice in boxing terms, taking on a 49-0 all-time great over 12 three-minute boxing rounds. And there are an increasing number who believe that McGregor can live up to his predictions and knock out one of boxing’s defensive masters.
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The fact that both have been able to sell this contest as an event is truly remarkable. At the beginning of 2017, you’d have been carried away in a straitjacket for suggesting that McGregor and Mayweather would come face to face in a boxing ring, and the room key would have been thrown away had you suggested McGregor could win.
So, what chance does McGregor have of actually living up to his predictions and springing what would be among the greatest upsets in boxing history – and over more than a century there have been plenty of them.
From what little we have seen in carefully-edited footage of his training, I have to argue he has very little chance of knocking out Mayweather.
Yes, we have seen the footage of him knocking down former world champion Pauli Malignaggi in sparring. And then there were images of him knocking over his trainer – his trainer! – in another clip.
And it’s true what that heavyweight force of nature of the 1980s, Mike Tyson, would say about opponents. ‘Everyone has a plan until I hit them on the chin.’ No matter who you are, the right punch at the right angle will switch off the lights.
It’s also true that Mayweather has a strong chin, as he has proven in his 49 undefeated pro fights, including being clocked by a huge Shane Mosley right hand in 2010. Mayweather was rocked, held on grimly and courageously, and wobbled back to his corner at the end of the second round. ‘What’s going on?’ his cornermen raged. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be OK when I go out there again,’ replied the boxer.
Mosley hardly landed another power punch in the fight.
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It’s unlikely that McGregor is the hardest puncher Mayweather will have faced, although at the age of 40, the lightning reflexes aren’t what they were, suggesting the Irishman has a better than even-money chance of landing a couple of his best shots.
Even so, from footage of him in sparring and of his UFC fights, I’m not convinced the Irishman makes full use of his power. That might sound like an outlandish claim, but there’s a difference when punching in UFC and in a boxing ring.
For a start, in UFC, the opponent isn’t only looking for punches to be coming at him. There is the threat of kicks to the head, body and legs, and of being taken down – ground and pound – or choked into submission. In boxing, it’s only the fists one needs to worry about.
McGregor throws punches from a long way out, and even if his angles might be an oddity to a boxing ring, the power is still in his southpaw left hand. And when he lands a punch – as he did in training against Malignaggi – it comes at the very end of his reach range and almost as a heavy ‘slap’.
He also, from what I have seen, doesn’t punch ‘through’ the opponent. His punch ‘ends’ when it lands. It’s like a cricketer playing a cover drive without the follow through, a golfer hitting the ball without a full follow-through swing.
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The target for McGregor shouldn’t be Mayweather’s head, it should be a few inches beyond that, so the power is maximised. And while he has boxing ability and would walk through many world-ranked junior-middleweights, there’s a reason Mayweather is unbeaten in 21 years and 49 fights.
