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Aldo Says McGregor Getting Too Much Credit For Boxing Debut
Former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo believes his MMA rival, Conor McGregor, is getting way too much credit for last Saturday's performance against Floyd Mayweather.
McGregor, the current UFC lightweight champion, was making his professional boxing debut against one of the best defensive fighters in the history of the sport.
McGregor started strong and some felt he swept the first three rounds, but then Mayweather began to work his way into the fight.
The UFC superstar began to fade as the contest played out, and then he was eventually stopped in the tenth round before a roaring crowd at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Aldo, who lost to McGregor via a 13-second knockout back in 2015, believes the large sector of individuals who are praising McGregor are also failing to mention the fact that Mayweather is 40 years old and was coming back from a two year layoff.
“Conor doesn’t have good cardio, and (they) knew he’s not used to boxing,” Aldo said, according to MMA Junkie. “Mayweather was closed up, just waiting for the time to pounce. The guy hadn’t fought for two years.
“A lot of people talk a lot of crap, like, ‘Oh, he landed many more blows than (Manny) Pacquiao or (Miguel) Cotto and everyone.’ But no one says that (Mayweather) didn’t fight for two years. He didn’t even prepare for the fight. He knew, like everyone at the gym said, that it would be very hard (for McGregor to win) – very, very hard.”
Some have labeled the outcome as a "moral victory" for McGregor - because he was able to have some success in the fight and lasted ten rounds with Mayweather - but Aldo disagrees.
“Of course not,” Aldo said. “Moral? First of all, you try to prove that with someone who’s almost 41, who’s been away (from the sport). Of course, it was a money fight. A moral victory would have been taking on an active boxer, a champion, and then fought him. And then you’d see how he would barely last a round. Because it’s an entirely different sport. We need to put ourselves in our places."
