By Keith Idec
Conor McGregor was every bit the brash trash-talker everyone expected Tuesday.
The UFC superstar mocked Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s attire and tax predicament inside a jam-packed Staples Center in Los Angeles, before predicting that he’ll knock out the unbeaten boxing legend within four rounds when they fight August 26. McGregor made his stirring statements during the first official press conference to promote their 12-round, 154-pound boxing match next month at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Showtime Pay-Per-View; $99.95 in HD).
“He’s in a f***ing track suit,” yelled McGregor, who was dressed in a blue pinstriped suit. “He can’t even afford a suit anymore.”
That was a reference to Mayweather reportedly owing the IRS about $22 million in taxes from 2015 (https://www.boxingscene.com/report-mayweather-still-owes-22-million-taxes-from-2015--118397). McGregor claims Mayweather’s tax debt will be the least of his problems come August 26.
“He is f***ed,” McGregor said. “There’s no other way about it. His little legs, his little core, his little head. I’m gonna knock him out inside four rounds – mark my words.”
Las Vegas’ Mayweather (49-0, 26 KOs), who came out of retirement to fight the Irish showman, hasn’t lost since the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. McGregor is 21-3 in mixed martial arts matches, including 18 knockouts, but his fight against Mayweather will be the first official boxing match of his career.
The powerful southpaw still is confident he can knock out Mayweather, who’s slightly more than a 5-1 favorite despite that he is 40 and hasn’t boxed in nearly two years.
“What can I say?,” said McGregor, who’ll turn 29 on Friday. “I’m a young, confident, happy man that has worked extremely hard for this. I have worked very, very hard for this. So I’m just up here embracing everything. Nobody’s gonna do nothing. Nobody can do nothing up here to me. I can do what the f*** I want up here. So I’m just enjoying myself, having a good time. And that’s it.
“As far as the fight, he will be unconscious inside four rounds. The movement, the power, the ferociousness – he has not experienced this. He has fought people who have shied away from him. I don’t fear him. I don’t fear this limited set of fighting. This is a limited set of rules that makes this half a fight, a quarter of a fight. This isn’t a true fight. If this was a true fight, it wouldn’t even take one round.”
The four-day, four-city, three-country tour to promote Mayweather-McGregor will continue Wednesday at the Budweiser Stage in Toronto. The tour also has stops scheduled for Thursday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn and Friday at Wembley Arena in London.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
