We’re fully entrenched in the promotion of Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor now, with both fighters ready to head into the final leg of their camps (with an unfortunate amount of frenzied fans harassing significant others). With only a month to go before arguably the biggest fight in the history of combat sports, it’s time to step up the intensity. But for the 40-year-old Mayweather, things aren’t what they used to be. He says he’s lost a step.
Is this savvy promotion, or is he being honest at the worst time?
“He wants to win bad,” Mayweather told BoxingScene. “He really wants to win bad, extremely bad. With other fighters, it plays out two ways when you’re facing Floyd Mayweather. You’ve got some guys that play it safe. You’ve got some guys like Maidana that go straight for the kill. He’s going to come out and go for the kill like Mayweather-Maidana I. He’s going to come out and go for the kill. He’s a heavy hitter, so I’ve got to be cautious. Remember, I’m older, so I can’t move like I used to move, so it’s basically going to be a toe-to-toe battle.”
Here’s the second Maidana fight for reference. Notice how he swarms and tries to overpower Mayweather. McGregor could have the same game plan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CqV65LYbL4
The question is, what does Floyd mean by “toe-to-toe?” A Floyd Mayweather toe-to-toe fight is much different from Max Holloway or Anderson Silva taking punches from 4oz gloves then staring dudes down. And we’ve seen in various training videos that the muscle memory is still there with Floyd.
“It’s going to be exciting. He’s going to come fight. He’s going to come out. He’s upset. I’ve seen it before. When these fighters get upset with me, they come out like they’re going to try and kill me. My job is to do what I do, just keep my composure. He does have a chance. Every time two warriors go out there and compete, anything can happen. We just saw a week ago, two weeks ago, a guy who started boxing at 18, a teacher, beat one of the best fighters of all time, which was Manny Pacquiao, so anything can happen in a combat sport.”
How funny is it that Pacquiao losing to an unknown in Australia has done nothing but help Mayweather’s promotion for this fight?
(Via BoxingScene)
