Aside from the money he earned against Mayweather in what may have been Floyd?s final ?legitimate? fight, Conor McGregor walked away from the match with knowledge he might not have possessed prior to that boondoggle. Some may say that knowledge was hard-earned and hence deserved. Others may say who gives a damn. But the MMA star in his first and thus far only venture in the square circle learned a valuable lesson; namely, boxing is where it?s at, especially from a financial perspective, and if he cannot box, so what? That never stopped anyone.
Since the Mayweather-McGregor debacle, which was sold as a competitive fight, others have wanted a shot at the Irishman. Former two-division Paulie Malignaggi has been calling McGregor out forever, in a desire to profit off their names and the bad blood between them. It hasn?t happened yet, but it might still, after Malignaggi, who broke his hands too many times to count while wearing boxing gloves, embarks on his pay-per-view debut as a bare-knuckler in a fight which runs the risk of being as significant as Floyd?s small drama show against McGregor.
Another fighter has also called out McGregor. Keith Thurman, whose pay-per-view fight against Manny Pacquiao is on July 20, also wants a piece of the mixed martial artist. When he was asked about McGregor, Thurman said, ?Conor, box me, baby. Conor, box me! You know you make more money in the boxing ring, anyways. Box me, Conor!
?Next pay-per-view fight after Manny Pacquiao.?
Unless McGregor is hard at work learning how to box, he?ll do no better against Thurman than he did against Mayweather, who carried him before lowering the boom.
?Once he realized he can?t land regular punches, he started doing overhand hammer slaps,? said Thurman. ?You can?t hold, you can?t kick, you can?t grapple. The advantage is, ?Do you have skills with the left? Do you have skills with the right? Do you have footwork??
?And one thing he doesn?t have is conditioning. He?s not ready for these championship fights. Floyd walked him down and beat him like he was playing Fight Night.
?He wanna talk that trash? Come on, man.?
McGregor hasn?t responded to Thurman?s challenge, and it?s easy to understand why.
He wants a rematch with Mayweather.
?Floyd is known for his Philly-shell defensive style of fighting,? McGregor said. ?He has his right arm tucked in, or he?s orthodox so it?s the opposite, but he has one arm tucked in by his belly and one arm kept up by his ear. He uses his shoulder to deflect shots. He?s a back footed fighter, he fights on the back foot.
?That?s what I prepared for because that is all I had seen of him. My sparring partners were fighters on the back foot, fighting defensive, back against the ropes and then when I went into the fight in the early rounds, I was whooping him in the early rounds. I actually went back to my corner after the first round and said ?this is easy.? I literally said that to my cornerman, this is easy and then he had to switch up his style.?
McGregor is delusional if he thought then or thinks now that he actually won a few rounds against Mayweather without Mayweather letting him win a few round. But some people, in an addition to McGregor, actually believe it was on the up-and-up.
McGregor went on, ?Now you?ve got to respect that. That?s what a crafty veteran can do. He can switch his style. He switched it to that old Mexican boxing style. Mexican boxing style is where you put your elbows in tight and this knuckle you put it just above the forehead and connect it and walk forward with heavy pressure. He never fought like that in his entire career. He was forced to fight that way ?cause he was getting beaten when he was fighting his old way.?
Christ almighty, if I didn?t know better I?d think McGregor was sincere, instead of twisting reality out of shape to generate interest in another big payday.
?The approach caught me off-guard. I was not prepared for it. I was not used to it and he walked me down and ended up getting the stoppage. The referee I felt could have let it go, I would have liked to see the end of the round, get my breathing back, get a little more comfortable. I know he?s not going to come into my game. I would love to rematch him under boxing rules again and have that knowledge and have my sparring partners come forward with that style also and see where we goes. I believe I would win. Actually, there I go again with the fake humbleness?I know I would win.?
