By now, Conor McGregor’s left hand is legendary. His seven UFC knockouts have all come from variations of his power left, and even as he’s evolved as a fighter, he mixes up his strikes only to come back to his bread and butter to finish. The left hand will end you, and Floyd Mayweather, the best defensive boxer ever, knows this.
Here’s 15 minutes of power and left hands just to hammer this whole storyline home:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xh8VAF-xV0
Mayweather is known for studying his opponents endlessly until he can break down every flinch and shoulder pop into a way for him to defend and counter, but with McGregor only really releasing a few social media training videos of him boxing, Mayweather has to rely on McGregor’s MMA fights for tape, and that’s a completely different game. McGregor’s stance needs to take kicks and takedowns into account, and none of that will matter in the Mayweather fight unless something really weird happens.
So for now, we just have the words of this training partners to go by, and they’re saying McGregor is “unbreakable” with stopping power not just in his left hand, but his right hand, that lifted one sparring partner “off his feet.”
Of course, we need to take this with a grain of salt. Sparring partners aren’t going to throw a guy under the bus, but they’re not exactly paid to promote either, so these are some interesting comments. McGregor was an amateur boxer at 17 years old before he transitioned to MMA, so maybe there’s something to this. Granted, he is fighting 49-0 Mayweather, but surprise is key, and McGregor might just surprise the world.
One of McGregor’s main sparring partners is Commonwealth Youth silver medalist Tiernan Bradley who has been brought in to replicate Mayweather’s style. He’s a guy who has been straight boxing his whole life, so that makes his comments to MMA Fighting especially interesting:
He doesn’t move like any other boxer. He’s powerful, fast and light on his feet … He’s very good at getting in and out and connecting. He’s so quick on his feet it’s very hard to judge the distance with him.
“He’s so fast and unpredictable — that’s a very dangerous combination. I don’t think Mayweather has ever boxed anyone like that.”
“I don’t know if you’ve seen the photo that he uploaded onto his Instagram after our session. People are talking about his left hand and whether the power will be there with 10-ounce gloves — he lifted me off my feet with a right uppercut in 16 (ounce gloves)!
Bradley continued by saying that McGregor’s style is “very different to any style I’ve seen over the years,” and he “found it very hard to figure him out.” That’s really all McGregor needs for the first few rounds of the fight — power and a confusing style — which could lead to an astonishing win.
(Via MMA Fighting)
