5 things that make you wonder if Conor McGregor really does have a chance against Floyd Mayweather

"Conor McGregor will not land a single punch against Floyd Mayweather," said Max Kellerman, in a matter-of-fact tone.

As a fan hooked on by all of the furore surrounding this super fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor, that's the last thing you want to hear from a boxing expert on ESPN.

However, it does reflect what most of the boxing fraternity thinks about Conor McGregor, a fighter with a 0-0 professional boxing record, stepping into the squared circle to fight the most decorated boxer of this generation in Floyd Mayweather.

But is it really as black and white as they make it out to be?

Conventional wisdom would suggest that it may indeed be so from a technical standpoint, but in their incredulity at an MMA fighter's cojones in challenging one of the all-time great boxers, are they conveniently ignoring the intangibles attached to any combat situation?

Because if the Irishman's rhetoric is to be believed, he's not here to box with Floyd Mayweather like 49 people before him tried to.

He's here to fight him.

And in a fight, especially one with Conor McGregor involved, anything can happen.

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8 oz. gloves

Will the smaller gloves play to Conor McGregor's advantage? (PC: Fightstate)

Floyd Mayweather was the first person involved in this fight who suggested on social media that they use 8-ounce gloves instead of the 10-ounce ones that 154-pound contests in boxing generally require.

Conor McGregor -- the quintessential power puncher -- was only too happy to oblige.

Duly, the Nevada State Athletic Commission voted on it and agreed that the willingness of both contestants alone was enough for them to sanction the move.

And it's a move that, at least on paper, favours the Irishman.

McGregor is a knockout artist and while 8-ounce boxing gloves are still twice as heavy as the 4-ounce gloves that he uses for MMA, they are two ounces lesser than what was agreed upon initially.

At the end, none of this may actually end up mattering if Floyd schools Conor in the sweet science like many are expecting him to. But for what it's worth, lighter gloves do increase the chances of Conor McGregor getting the flash knockout early in the fight.

A lack of respect

Conor McGregor cannot give Floyd Mayweather too much respect in the ring (PC: Irish Mirror)

Undefeated at 49-0. Biggest money spinner in the game. The most prized promotional icon of the sport. Easily the shrewdest business man cum sports athlete in the world. Greatest defensive boxer, perhaps of all time. Or simply, 'The Best Ever'.

When you think Floyd 'Money' Mayweather, you think about all of the accolades mentioned above.

When Conor McGregor thinks Floyd 'Money' Mayweather, he thinks about 'bouncing his little peanut head off the canvas'.

Many boxers before him entered the ring against Floyd in awe of his skills, at least secretly, and afforded him way too much respect in their fight. In some ways, they lost the fight before Floyd could ever beat them.

Conor McGregor, on the other hand, says that the only way Floyd can ever beat him is by 'reincarnating Bruce Lee'.

As disrespectful as McGregor's approach seems on the surface, that's exactly the kind of mentality that may help the Irishman on August 26th.

He needs to step into that boxing ring undaunted and express himself without cowing under the pressure of facing the undisputed king of boxing.

And so far, he seems par for course.

Floyd's age

Floyd may be in great shape...but he's 40 years old (PC: The Sun)

You'd often hear sportspersons -- especially those on top of their respective games -- reel off cliched lines like 'age is just a number' when quizzed on how long they still wish to continue.

In combat sports, however, that isn't entirely true.

The commonly accepted theory is that a fighter's power is the last attribute that fades away with age, but it is almost always the speed and reflexes that go first.

40 years old and two years retired, Floyd Mayweather was the first one to himself accept that he isn't the same fighter he was just a couple of years ago when he fought Andre Berto.

Whether he said that to sell the idea that Conor McGregor has a greater chance than many think he does or whether he actually believes in it, it would still appear to be true.

And despite not having any prior professional boxing experience, Conor does have the exuberance and intensity of youth on his side.

Will it count for something come fight night? We'll have to wait and see.

But should McGregor actually knock Mayweather out, a lot of people are going to turn to the excuse that a 40-year old man just wasn't as quick as he used to be.

The MMA style

Conor McGregor doesn't need to be a boxer in there... he needs to be an MMA fighter who's come to box (PC: Daily Mail)

We've seen countless times how boxers -- some of them orthodox, some southpaw and some even strangely unorthodox -- fare against Floyd Mayweather.

In fact, we've seen it 49 times over.

Mayweather has survived any and all styles of boxing that has been thrown at him over the years.

What we haven't ever seen, however, is him get into the ring against a freewheeling MMA fighter with awkward striking angles that actually throws his punches from a range that would be categorized under 'blasphemy' in Boxing 101.

And that is why it is incredibly important for Conor McGregor to continue doing exactly that on August 26th.

As many fighters would tell you, it's the punch you don't see coming that puts you down. In Floyd's case, he's practically seen every punch in the book that a boxer can throw at him.

Thankfully, Conor McGregor is no boxer.

Law of Attraction?

Dream big and achieve it (PC: Dublin Live)

Conor McGregor doesn't have a global following that's swelling by the day just because he knocks people out.

Conor McGregor is a global phenomenon today because he knocks people out after picking the round.

For the common man, pinned by the limitations of reality and looking desperately to cling on to something extraordinary in the hope that he too can transform his existence, getting behind Conor McGregor is the easiest access to vicarious satiation.

Right from a video of an 18-year-old kid predicting that he will one day be a double champion in the UFC, to accurately prophesizing in which round he will knock the likes of Poirier, Mendes, Aldo and Alvarez out, the Irishman has been calling his shots and knocking them out of the ball park continuously.

Call it supreme self-confidence, the law of attraction or as Luke Thomas at MMA Fighting put it, the ability to bend the Universe to his will, there is something special at work at the Dubliner's corner.

And come August 26th, when he takes on the overbearing disapproval of the boxing world with the collective hopes of the MMA fraternity hoisted on his shoulders against the greatest unconquered record in combat sport today, he'll need every bit of it to go his way again.