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Thing is McConor has never seen someone as fast as Mayweather. When McConor walks straight in thinking he can overpower Mayweather he's going to be in for a surprise. Anyway, It's a fight so Conor has a punchers chance but otherwise he's going to get schooled on the sweet science.
So, I've changed my stance on this fight. I made my initial prediction (Mayweather by KO 1) after viewing the Van Heerden sparring session. However, I think McGregor (McG) has come a long way since then. Also, I believe that some of the mistakes he was making from a defensive standpoint were due to his reflexes being conditioned for MMA instead of boxing, so it affected what strikes he anticipated coming back to him in return.
Since then, I've watched some training footage of McG on the bags after he released the photo of him with his hands behind his back against Malignaggi. I had to do a double take because I couldn't believe my eyes. I was impressed with the sharpness of his punches, the speed of his punches, but most of all, his movement. I didn't know that he was capable of such movement, as most MMA fighters seem to have a lumbering, Muy Thai/Wrestling style, as opposed to McG more dynamic boxing/TKD style.
As it stands, I believe McG has the best hands in the UFC by a WIDE margin. It's not just his hands though, it's his movement, his anticipation, and his timing.
After I watched his open workout and the absolute domination of Malignaggi in the released sparring footage, it only solidified my opinion about him. Just like Jeff Mayweather said, that short clip of McG with Malignaggi "exposed what McG is capable of." He didn't say it exposed some weaknesses, it exposed what he is capable of, indicating that perhaps the Mayweather team was not aware of this.
I don't blame them, clearly the entire boxing community wasn't aware of this. I notice all these comments by uneducated boxing fans that dismiss McG's movement, but that's because they really have no idea what they're talking about. They are seriously clueless about what it takes to box at the highest level.
You need movement. The thing is, McG switches stances seamlessly. Only a handful of guys do that today, but in the past, some of the greatest boxers of all time did this often and with intent. From what I could tell, based on training footage, McG seems to do this at angles that would allow him to throw punches that Floyd may not expect because it's true what they say about McG having angles that Floyd is not accustomed to, at least based on his opposition in professional fights.
Furthermore, based on McG's UFC fights, he seems to excel at controlling distance and have exceptional timing. Considering that he has a 2 inch reach advantage over Floyd, depending on how McG approaches this fight, and depending on what Floyd has left, McG could choose to lay back and make Floyd have to close distance, and perhaps catch Floyd with a counter on the way in.
Floyd has always shown to be level headed, so I'm not sure he would choose to get too aggressive in this fight, but if he does, because of what I think are unrealistic expectations placed on him by the boxing community, he could potentially get knocked out, particularly with a left uppercut or left straight counter.
Even if Floyd manages to hurt his opponent, McG has the advantage of having a longer reach and what appears to be great footwork, so Floyd can't really afford to try to finish him off.
Personally, I think McG will approach this fight with a high volume punching strategy, where the majority of his shots are "slapping" shots, but occasionally, he will land something hard. This will keep Floyd reactive. I imagine that McG will use his strength and his reach to his advantage and handcuff Floyd. If Floyd throws a counter in return, I believe McG will be willing to throw with Floyd and counter Floyd's counter with his own shot, and this could further make Floyd cautious.
The fact is, Floyd is 40 years old and he's a clock watching fighter at this stage. He's only going to do enough to win the round. I know I will get flack from boxing people that think this is boxing vs MMA and love from the MMA people that think the same, but I don't view this as MMA vs boxing.
I think that's ignorant even though that will surely be the public's perception. If you put Jose Aldo in a match with Floyd, he would be completely embarrassed. It's just McGregor is going to outweigh Floyd by 20-30 lbs, he has a reach advantage, he's a natural southpaw, he has great movement, and he's has serious power and timing.
Thing is McConor has never seen someone as fast as Mayweather. When McConor walks straight in thinking he can overpower Mayweather he's going to be in for a surprise. Anyway, It's a fight so Conor has a punchers chance but otherwise he's going to get schooled on the sweet science.
It would be a new strategy. Nobody has ever tried to approach Mayweather in a straight line and give him a pounding. Every single opponent he has faced in his career has been a powderpuff and had never scored a single KO ever.
It would be a new strategy. Nobody has ever tried to approach Mayweather in a straight line and give him a pounding. Every single opponent he has faced in his career has been a powderpuff and had never scored a single KO ever.
What I noticed, based on McGregor's open workout training footage and based on the footage I've seen of him with Malignaggi, is that he comes at angles. He optimizes his use of angles and often switches stances, which look to be seamless transitions.
I thought this would be an easy fight for Mayweather, but that's because I was ignorant about McGregor's capabilities. The thing is, if McGregor does beat Mayweather it's not that the UFC beat boxing, although admittedly, most people will look at it that way, it's that McGregor beat Mayweather. It's simple as that.
I don't know the entire UFC roster, but if it was anybody else (that I know of in Mayweather's weight class), Mayweather would easily beat them, but McGregor is a much bigger fighter, and he's a rangy southpaw with timing, speed, and tremendous movement.
McGregor says it all the time in interviews that people are just not prepared for the movement. I'm a huge proponent of movement. All the greats exhibited tremendous movement, including Mayweather.
But McGregor's movement will actually be something that Mayweather has never had to face in a professional fight.
What I noticed, based on McGregor's open workout training footage and based on the footage I've seen of him with Malignaggi, is that he comes at angles. He optimizes his use of angles and often switches stances, which look to be seamless transitions.
Wow. Angles.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jobster
I don't know the entire UFC roster, but if it was anybody else (that I know of in Mayweather's weight class), Mayweather would easily beat them, but McGregor is a much bigger fighter, and he's a rangy southpaw with timing, speed, and tremendous movement.
McGregor and Mayweather are practically the same size. Canelo wasn't "too big" for Mayweather so I don't know why McGregor would be.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jobster
McGregor says it all the time in interviews that people are just not prepared for the movement. I'm a huge proponent of movement. All the greats exhibited tremendous movement, including Mayweather.
You do realize McGregor's footwork is terrible for a boxer, right?
After watching more Mayweather defensive highlight videos, I don't see McGregor landing any significant blows, Mayweather is just too good at protecting his head.
After watching more Mayweather defensive highlight videos, I don't see McGregor landing any significant blows, Mayweather is just too good at protecting his head.
McGregor and Mayweather are practically the same size. Canelo wasn't "too big" for Mayweather so I don't know why McGregor would be.
You do realize McGregor's footwork is terrible for a boxer, right?
Angles is right.
McGregor has a different type of size that Floyd has to worry about, but it's his footwork that will allow him to set up shots.
There's like this stigma at boxing gyms where people are afraid to let other people experiment with new things, so nothing else gets learned.
McGregor has good footwork for fighting, period, boxing included.
If Floyd beats McGregor, I consider it to be a high level win and I hope you give him credit because honestly, on paper, as Floyd said, McGregor should win this fight.
Floyd knows what he's talking about. Floyd is the one in the ring. He seen the footwork, he seen the sparring footage and if he didn't know it before, he knows it now that he's going up against someone that is real.
You know, as far as the person that is McGregor. I don't know. On one hand he's just saying what he thinks he can do and was also giving boxing and boxers respect, but at the same time, I was disappointed in how he spoke the way he did in front of Floyd and his daughter. That's just disrespectful to me because a man doesn't cross that line of another man where you disrespect him in front of his kids.
I think both guys should have handled the press tour differently as there is no need to stoop to that level. They could have just sold the fight based on skills because I didn't pay attention to any of that nonsense but only watched it recently.
Before I seen the skills, I was actually not going to watch the fight because I felt sorry for McGregor. Now, as I seen the footage, I realized that this is a real fight that Floyd will have to prepare in a way that he's never had to prepare for before.
The same can be said about McGregor without a doubt, but I just don't think people really grasp how dangerous of a fight this is for Floyd not because Floyd is bad, but because McGregor offers that type of challenge.
I will say that I will eat my words if Floyd just goes in there and crushes him, but I just don't see that happening based on what I've seen in training.
Like I said, everyone can form their own opinions, but that's what I see playing out.
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