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One of the most intriguing fights ever is set to go down this week in the fight capital of the world, as Sin City plays host to what could be the highest-grossing fight of all time.
The money is there as is the passion; the defensive wizardry is present as is the ferocious aggression; it's Experience vs Youth; it's the Jack of all trades vs the Master of one, and Vegas braces for the carnival known as Mayweather vs McGregor. This fight is much more than two gladiators stepping into the ring to try their best and separate the other from his consciousness. This fight — a boxing match — is as much spectacle as it is a legitimate test of the athletic abilities and fighting skills of the combatants.
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When Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor touch gloves before mixing it up inside the ring under the Marquess of Queensberry rules, what ensues will be the culmination of the curiosity of the millions and millions of combat sports fans or even first-time watchers for that matter.
Mayweather vs McGregor is a cultural event.
No matter how much one tries to sugarcoat it, the fact remains that Conor McGregor is 0-0-0 as a professional boxer. In simple terms, his fight against Mayweather will be his pro-boxing debut. Make no mistake about it though, McGregor is a fighter and a great one at that.
Here’s the catch: the Notorious Irishman is an MMA fighter, not a professional boxer and is set to go one-on-one with one of the greatest boxers in the history of the sport of pugilism, which dates back to 688 BC.
The fight shall be contested under professional boxing rules, and Conor stands to lose somewhere north of 90% of his fight-purse should he utilize any MMA-based manoeuvre that isn’t permitted within the realm of the sweet science. In other words, the UFC Lightweight Champion is disallowed from freely firing off the vast array of weapons that have time and again helped him befuddle and discombobulate his foes within the confines of the world famous Octagon.
While the blue corner houses the brash connoisseur of predicting ‘Tings’— Mystic Mac, in the red corner you have one of the best boxers of all time, Floyd Mayweather Jr. On paper, Floyd has every advantage apart from age. Besides, for those jumping at the size difference, you ought to note that Conor and Floyd aren’t separated by as much size as the former would have you believe. This is Mayweather’s fight to lose.
Nevertheless, just like the eloquent and well-mannered young Mike Tyson once said:
"Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the mouth."
May-Mac is a fistfight, folks, and when the stars align, Rahman can knock out Lewis; an old Bisping can wobble a young Rockhold; a Middleweight in Hendo can KO a Heavyweight in Fedor and an emotional Douglas can ice a confident Tyson. Anything can happen.
As students of martial science, it’s our job to analyze and learn the keys to victory in each and every fight that we come across. Here are a few essentials that Mayweather needs to keep in mind if he wants to take McGregor to boxing school. Here we go:
#5 Respect thy enemy
If you’ve watched the press conferences in the build-up to Mayweather vs McGregor, surely you would’ve heard a lot of colourful terms being thrown around like candy not only by the outspoken UFC phenom but also by the motor-mouth American pugilist.
The key to both McGregor and Mayweather’s success has been their ability to irritate opponents to the point where their respective opponents want to kill them. In that sense, both Conor and Floyd mimic the late-great Muhammad Ali — since Ali’s verbal tirades would more often than not beat his opponents well before they set foot in the ring.
Irrespective of all the mind games and trash talk that Conor and Floyd have directed toward one another, when the bell rings, the American boxer has got to respect his debuting foe’s power and skills. After all, it’s a fight, and when fists touch jaws and those body shots start to feel like stabs, the recipient goes down sooner rather than later.
Floyd has to respect Conor’s power, especially early on in the fight. The first couple of rounds will set the pace for the bout and serve as a reading session for both fighters. There’s always the chance that Conor catches Floyd with a bomb like Shane Mosley did in his showdown against FMJ. The rooftop punch that Mosley connected with rocked ‘Money’ and had him in all sorts of trouble however it was Floyd’s excellent muscle memory and legendary chin that helped him hang on and eventually turn the tables on Mosley.
Floyd needs to avoid planting his feet over the course of the first quarter of the 12-round fight. In my humble opinion, the defensive savant would likely open up from Round 3 or 4 onwards, but until then he needs to respect the Irishman’s power and get his distance and timing down.
Pride comes before the fall. And Floyd isn’t stupid. He will respect the power Conor carries in his hands and stay on his bike for the early rounds, getting his reads and allowing his conscious and subconscious to calculate the sum of the offence and defence that Ireland’s King Ghost brings to the Sweet Science’s bloody laboratory.
#4 Power
Now although most critics and fans have never been too high on Floyd’s KO power, he was, in fact, a knockout artist early on in his career — right from the amateurs to the professional circuit.
However, ironically enough, his hands have always been his biggest weakness, which, in turn, makes the fact that he is one of the greatest pugilists of all time even more impressive. He has been known to break his hands multiple times in training as well as in a few of his bouts.
For those who aren’t too familiar with the intricacies of the Sweet Science, here’s something that may surprise you: You don’t need to carry that one-shot KO power in order to knock someone out.
Here’s why:
The reason behind a human being getting knocked out is the sudden, unnatural rotation of the brain inside the skull. On that note, one ought to understand that severe blunt force trauma can also cause the brain to temporarily shut down, resulting in a KO. However, even boxers with brittle hands like Floyd are skilled enough to generate just enough amount of leverage in their punches that causes the opponent’s brain to violently rotate within the confines of their skull. The result? Floyd Mayweather wins by KO/TKO.
This power is generated through the skilful placement of one’s feet on the ground and the correct rotation of the hips and feet depending on the punch and the location of the target.
Floyd needs to stay light on his feet and pepper Conor with long range shots. Should there be a clinch (something that I’ve explained in detail in the points that follow), Mayweather ought to tweak his strategy accordingly. For those doubting Mayweather’s power, you’d be remiss to rule out the point that he does, in fact, possess the power -- through the sheer beauty of his pugilistic technique -- to score that kill-shot over any man at a given time.
However, he’d have to plant his feet in order to unload his power punches, hooks and uppercuts, apart from that snapping right straight/cross. I see Floyd starting to sit down more on his punches after Round 3.
#3 Go to the body, Rocky!
It doesn’t matter if you’re an MMA fan, a kickboxing mark or a boxing purist — if you love all things fighting, there’s a good chance that you’ve watched the classic ‘Rocky’ movie(s).
Even though Rocky Balboa is a fictional character, several excellent boxing basics have been artistically depicted over the course of the popular American franchise; one of the most memorable qualities of the Balboa character is that the man loves beating up his foe’s body. The liver, solar plexus and even the controversial kidney shots are right there, Jack!
On that note, when you take a look at Mayweather, the man is just as adept at going to the body while he is snapping his opponent’s head back.
Floyd needs to work the body with the jab to the navel and eventually start putting his weight behind the body shots, tagging Conor consistently. His attack, as always, ought to vary right from body jabs and uppercuts when Conor is bent over to hooks as a counter when the latter tries to open up.
#2 Clinch
The battle of the clinch between the pure boxer Mayweather and the MMA fighter McGregor is likely going be one for the ages.
The clinch battle is MMA is vastly different from that in professional boxing, owing to the fact that one has several other threats to worry about in the clinch in an MMA bout. In my opinion, Floyd has never been one to shy away from resorting to…well, dirty tactics in a boxing match.
He’s always been known for his skill in expertly driving opponents into the point of his lead elbow. His use of the forearm in pushing down at the head of his opponent is also not unbeknownst to the boxing community.
On the other hand, Conor too has shown his evolution in the clinch battles, particularly in his rematch with Nate Diaz and his UFC Lightweight Championship winning performance against Eddie Alvarez.
However, in boxing, look for the referee to constantly separate Floyd and Conor whenever the duo tussles in the clinch. This, in turn, may serve to frustrate Conor and increase Floyd’s confidence, as the latter is more than accustomed to the referee stepping in from time to time over the course of a boxing match.
Floyd needs to stay active in the clinch and fire off as many dirty elbows and dirty forearms at Conor. The Irishman will try his best to make it as rough as possible, wrestling Floyd around in the clinch. However, the Michigan native should be more than ready for the MMA fighter’s superior grappling technique, albeit on the feet and not on the ground.
#1 Fight Night and ‘Old Man Syndrome’
Father Time waits for no one. And Floyd— for all his shenanigans — is another one of us mortals who, sooner or later, shall fall prey to Father Time.
In the lead-up to this fight, he has stated on multiple occasions that he isn’t the fighter he was a few years ago. Well, to be honest, he’s sung the same tune in his last few fights—building himself up as the hero looking to overcome all odds. This week’s Money fight isn’t too different.
However, one has to wonder, whether the time off after the Berto fight— his previous boxing bout—and the fact that he’s now 40, may play a role when he goes up against the young, cocky Irishman.
In my opinion, FMJ needs to shut off the white noise — all that talk from the McGregor camp about the former being an old man — and simply keep his eye on the ball; doing what he does best: Boxing at the highest level.
Floyd needs to stick to his game and adhere to the defensive approach that got him to the dance in the first place. Stick and move, and control his urges to plant his feet and destroy the trash-talking Irishman. Once the fight gets to the Round 4, or even 3 for that matter, I see Floyd starting to open up, albeit in short spurts with hooks and uppercuts.
Sensei Tiger Says:
This fight is going to be a carnival. Make no bones about it.
It’s a freakshow.
However, the skills that both fighters bring to the table are more than enough to justify the fact that the NSAC has sanctioned this matchup in 2017; besides, with the truckloads of money that everyone stands to make, did you really think Vegas would’ve let this one slip away?
Fight Night is upon us. On August 26th, the old lion puts on a pair of boxing gloves once again, in his attempt to break the legendary Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 undefeated record.
On the other hand, you have McGregor who continues to will his way into the history books, forcing the universe to bend to his whims.
Floyd will have to respect Conor’s power and skills and weather the early storm. He will then sit down on his punches and rip the Irishman’s body like his name is Rocky Balboa. Mayweather has to be extremely careful should he enter the clinch with the MMA fighter, and when it comes to his own body — the American pugilist known as ‘Money’ has to acknowledge the fact that he’s 40, not 20. In simple terms, as long as Floyd avoids a phone-booth fight with McGregor, he has this fight in his pocket.
Stick to the basics, Floyd. Stay true to yourself. The world of boxing has its hopes pinned on you. Do not disappoint us!
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