|
Once in a blue moon does a fight of this magnitude happen. The last time an MMA fighter fought a boxer was 7 years ago where Randy Couture fought James Toney. The only fight to be able to come close in PPV numbers is Mayweather vs Pacquiao, and yet there is something special about Mayweather McGregor that the other fights don’t have. It’s simple. MayvsMac is a combination of the others. A sum of their ingredients if you will. It has the box office appeal that captured the world during MAYvsPAC and the intrigue of Couture vs Toney. Negotiations Before we even get to the technical analysis, we must ask the question, will the fight even happen? In my honest opinion, yes I believe the fight will happen. During the initial rumours of a possible fight between the two, I had my reservations. Conor McGregor was under contract to the UFC, and without approval McGregor would be unable to fight Mayweather. However, after his determination to pursue the fight through the Ali Act (a scenario where Conor could make the fight without the UFC’s involvement) the UFC felt obliged to intervene in the situation and help usher the fight along. What spurred this intervention I hear you ask? Money. MayMac could total 500 million with none going towards the UFC, or the UFC could help bring the fight to fruition and get a share of the treasure. Simple. Money however, is not enough to ensure a fight occurs. Everyone involved must want this to happen for the fight to even have a chance of happening. It took 6 years for MayPac to occur despite both contenders being in the same sport in the same weight class. The reason why it took so long is simple, neither side wanted the fight to occur despite the fight being touted record breaking. Mayweather was hesitant to fight Pacquiao as to risk his undefeated steak. Pacquiao’s team was hesitant to take the real challenge in fighting Mayweather, and recognised that they could continue getting high praise beating welterweights (who despite being bigger, were no match technically for Pacquiao). The same is not true for Mayweather vs McGregor for two reasons. Firstly, everyone knows that McGregor has no chance in a boxing ring and so the risk of loss has been accepted. This is especially true when combined with the second reason. McGregor is a mixed martial artist not a boxer, and so a loss to one of the greatest fighters ever, and arguably the greatest defensive fighter ever is acceptable. Tale of the Tape Perhaps the most important part of the fight is combatants and how the match up. Let me just say this bluntly, and I can because this is my blog and I don’t care what you think. Conor McGregor is going to be embarrassed in a manner which has never been seen before. It’s going to be like Mayweather vs Gatti but worse. Let me break down the arguments. Power. Conor has power, serious power but not enough to one punch knockout. He’s not Julian Jackson. The only way he could knock someone out in the UFC is through a series of combinations set up through counter punches or a telegraphed left hand (which we will discuss later). Simply put, Conor is not landing combinations. If Cotto couldn’t land any, Conor is not going to either. That’s assuming that he will even be able to corner Floyd against the ropes. Conor is not adept to cutting off the ring and so cornering Floyd would be very difficult. Speed This is no contest. Mayweather is considered one of the fastest fighters to ever live in a sport saturated with speedsters. Conor isn’t exactly known for his speed. Mayweather will be able to dodge any punch coming at him and land anytime he wishes. He is simply too fast for Conor, even at 40 years of age. Accuracy Conor once said “timing beats speed, precision beats power”, and he’s right so perhaps it’s not the biggest issue that he wouldn’t be able to one punch KO Floyd. Except the problem is Floyd is one of, if not the most accurate puncher that’s ever lived. He beat all-time greats in connect percentages such as Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns. Many people would argue that these fighters were combination punchers, and that it would be silly to compare them to a defensive wizard such as Mayweather. They are right. But Floyd still had higher punch percentages than defensive masters such as Andre Ward and Guillermo Rigondeaux. Ring IQ I can’t even. Easily goes to Mayweather “No one can take the left” One of the go to reasons as to why Conor will beat Floyd, Jon Jones and every other person that does not believe in the notorious one including the Queen, is that no one can take that left hand shot. Conor has managed to work wonders with his left hand. He’s dropped everyone using it. Chad Mendes, Jose Aldo, Nate Diaz (3 times) and Eddie Alvarez. However, under scrutiny, these wins don’t quite hold up as leverage against boxing Floyd. Chad Mendes and Eddie Alvarez are wrestlers, not boxers and Jose Aldo is a Jiu Jitsu practitioner with good striking but still flawed (jumping in with a lead left hood without covering his face with his right hand). However, I do give credit where credit is due. Conor did beat Nate Diaz at 170lb, a weight class he had no right fighting at. He’s a lightweight for pete’s sake. But then again so is Diaz. Conor did manage to drop Diaz 3 times though and acknowledgements must be given for that. However, I find it strange that Conor dropped Diaz 3 times in the second fight but not once in the first, a fight which Conor himself said he put more into his punches. Could it be that Diaz was trying to goad Conor onto the ground? Perhaps, but let’s not dabble in theory. Conor dropped Diaz and applause must be given. Mayweather however, is another animal altogether. I think it would be safe to say that Conor would never land the left hand against him. Mayweather knows more about Conor’s left hand than Conor does. Conor sets up the left hand using his jab, a tale as old as time. If the legendary Manny Pacquiao, considered by many to have some of the fastest hands ever seen couldn’t land his left at will, what hope does Conor have? Conor will won’t be able to land his power shot, and when he realises this it will be interesting to see how he will adjust. Styles The best way I can use to describe Conor McGregor is a pressure counter puncher. He pressures people back and then counters when they attack. In terms of size and style, the best equivalent I can think of in boxing is Canelo Alvarez. Canelo is a big junior middleweight. It’s rumoured that he comes into the ring at 170-175 on fight night. A combination puncher that likes to counter, he is very similar to Conor except from being 1 inch shorter and having an orthodox stance compared to Conor’s southpaw. Let me again say this bluntly. Conor McGregor is not going to be countering Floyd. If fighters such as Marquez and Canelo couldn’t do it (both known for their counter punching prowess) Conor McGregor has little chance. Now many of you may say that Conor does not need to counter Floyd. Some of you with boxing knowledge may say that Conor need only rough Floyd up as Maidana did. This is where your wrong. Conor McGregor is not Marcos Maidana. Maidana had huge success against Floyd in their first fight by making it a brawl, and he could do that because he is a brawler. When other fighters, such as Andre Berto tried to do the same, they turned up short because brawling is not their style. Conor is not a brawler, despite being bigger than Floyd, I highly doubt he would be able to impose his size on Floyd. Even if Conor did trap Floyd against the ropes, the likely hood of landing something is minimal, and in fact, would most likely tire out and get countered. If Canelo couldn’t land anything significant against the ropes, I doubt Conor will. So where does this leave us? It leaves us with Conor being completely outboxed in the middle of the ring, and not being able to land anything against the ropes. It leaves us with Mayweather clowning him for 12 rounds and landing combinations at will. Now, there is some debate as to whether Floyd would TKO Conor. Honestly I don’t think so. I doubt Floyd would be able to inflict serious damage to Conor, especially with such brittle hands. Furthermore, I feel as though Conor’s pride would refuse to allow him and his team to utter the legendary words “No mas”. Conclusion Alas, this is where I must leave you. I do believe that the fight will happen. Everyone involved wants this fight. There appears to be no uncertainties in this fight. The winner is almost predetermined when you look at the skill disparity. Many of you probably think I have been overly critical against Conor McGregor. This is no attack against him. I am actually a huge fan of his. His boxing ability in the octagon is masterful and his calmness and composure while fighting is something to be admired. Against Floyd Mayweather however, this would not be enough. The skill and experience disparity is too high. We are essentially talking about a MMA fighter (Who has never had a professional boxing match in his life) vs a Professional Boxer (One of the greatest to ever live) in a boxing ring. The equivalent would be having Roger Federer vs Jan-Ove Waldner in table tennis. Just because they both hit balls with rackets/paddles does not mean the skills transfer across. It matters not though. When McGregor loses, him and his fan base will resort to the usual complaints whenever Mayweather puts on a boxing clinic. “All he did was run” “He wouldn’t stand there and fight me”. A new addition will be made to this list of excuses. “I would beat him in a real fight”. This is 100% true but completely irrelevant. Just a way for his fan base to gather back whatever pride is left over. Similar to the republican party using “All lives matter” as a way of discrediting “Black Lives Matter”. If my aunt had balls she would be my uncle. While his fan base cries and looks for excuses, McGregor can set off into the sunset with close to 100million in the bank. Not bad for 36 minutes. The real question lies in what happens after. Mayweather will retire again but will Conor return to the UFC? He once stated that his goal was to “Get in. Get rich. Get out” and after making the biggest payday of this life, he must be asking is it time to get out? |
|
