Conor McGregor Has ‘No Doubt’ He’d Beat Floyd Mayweather in a Rematch
Conor McGregor has moved on from his August loss to Floyd Mayweather but that doesn’t mean he’s letting it go.
In his professional boxing debut, McGregor managed to make it to the 10th round before Mayweather finished the fight by TKO to move his record to a perfect 50-0 before retiring from the sport.
Following the fight, McGregor paid credit to Mayweather for his savvy game plan and execution and then turned his attention back to mixed martial arts where he’s the reigning UFC lightweight champion.
Still months later as McGregor continues to negotiate with the UFC on his next fight, the 29-year old Irishman can’t help but analyze the mistakes he made in the fight with Mayweather that ultimately cost him the fight.
“It is what it is. I got beat. He’s a tactical genius in there,” McGregor told the BBC when talking about Mayweather. “He changed his game plan three times, that’s the sign of a true champion. First, Philly shell, second rope-a-dope, third when both of those was getting picked at, he went Mexican style, hands up, knuckles above the eyebrows, dipped in low an just walked forward. It’s like an ugly boxing style.
“But he was able to change that game plan three times. It’s the sign of a true champion. He got the win, fair play to him.”
Of course, McGregor can’t help but tout his own performance in those early rounds where he did land some very solid punches and seemed to get the better of Mayweather in most of the exchanges.
“Show me his highlights. Show me his shoulder roll. Show me his pull. Show me the early rounds. All the highlights are from me,” McGregor said.
In hindsight, McGregor knows exactly what he did wrong in the preparation for Mayweather because he never expected the multi-time champion to come after him the way he did in the second half of the fight.
Mayweather is best known as a defensive genius who makes his opponents miss constantly before he fires back with his own counter shots and that style turned him into one of the most difficult matchups in boxing history.
So that’s exactly what McGregor prepared to face but Mayweather switched things up and it left the Irishman without a Plan B of attack.
That’s why McGregor is so confident that if he ever got a second shot at Mayweather, he’d make good on his promise to hand the boxer his first professional loss.
“If it happened in a rematch, it’s a simple adjustment of me having a heavier sparring partner coming in, in the later rounds, and lean on me and walk me down. Where as in my sparring in the lead up to the camp, we were always against fast, twitchy, light on their toes opponent with a Philly shell style and their backs against the ropes. Never against forward pressure because he’s never fought like that so it took us by surprise and I got beat,” McGregor said.
“If I had a rematch, I would correct that and I would beat him. He’s retired. I’m not going to start calling him out of retirement. I’m going to leave him to it. If it happens, maybe it will, who knows — I would beat him no doubt.”
