BIGGEST BET SO FAR ON MAYWEATHER-MCGREGOR; UFC STAR LIKES LOMA-RIGO THAN CANELO-GGG
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 14 Aug 2017
An unknown bettor put up an $880,000 bet on Floyd Mayweather, Jr. to beat Conor McGregor and the bet was placed at the South Point Casino in Las Vegas. It was deemed to be the largest placed for the trendy match where the former pound-for-pound king was a -550 favorite that time and if Mayweather comes out victorious, the bettor would win a net profit of $160,000.
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Mayweather is a two-time winner of The Ring Magazine's Fighter of the Year award (1998 and 2007), a three-time winner of the Boxing Writers Association of America Fighter of the Year award (2007, 2013, and 2015), and a six-time winner of the Best Fighter ESPY Award (2007?2010, 2012?2014). In 2016, Mayweather was rated by ESPN as the greatest boxer, pound for pound, of the last 25 years.
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Conor McGregor began boxing when he was twelve years old at the Crumlin Boxing Club under two-time Olympian Phil Sutcliffe, training together with boxers Dean Byrne and Jamie Kavanagh, both went on to train under Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Gym. McGregor was successful in amateur boxing and become an All-Ireland champion at youth level, but his interest was diverted to other martial arts sports when he was about sixteen.
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McGregor did not consider Gennady ?GGG? Golovkin and Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez as the top fighters of the sport. The Irish UFC star prefers Guillermo Rigondeaux and Vasyl Lomachenko and likes to see the two fighters face each other, as he wants to see who is the better fighter of the two champions.
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McGregor says Canelo can?t move quickly and is easy to hit as he watched Canelo absorbed jabs to his face in his last fights. For Golovkin, McGregor says he thinks the Kazakh champ was badly out of shape and saw him as an exhausted fighter.
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?I like Rigondeaux. I?m a big fan of Rigondeaux. I like Lomachenlo as well. I think those two should come and compete. I don?t understand why Lomachenko isn?t engaging in it all. In his last fight, he was good. He had some glimpses of what he does. His energy wasn?t right. That fight needs to happen,? McGregor was quoted by boxingnews24.com regarding his views on Lomachenko vs. Rigondeaux.
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Lomachenko's quest for a historic world championship in his second fight and break Saensak Muangsurin's record faled when he challenged Orlando Salido for the WBO featherweight title. Lomachenko evaded from clashing with Salido throughout the fight, which Salido exploited. Salido won a twelve-round split decision despite Lomachenko?s late round surge.
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As an amateur fighter, Guillermo Rigondeaux won consecutive gold medals in the bantamweight division at the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympics. He is also a seven-time Cuban national champion at bantamweight (2000?2006). Rigondeaux was described by Freddie Roach as: "Probably the greatest talent I've ever seen.?
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McGregor turned down Lomachenko?s offer to replace Paulie Malignaggi as the MMA champ?s new sparring partner. ?First of all, he?s 120-pounds,? McGregor told MMA Weekly. ?Second of all, he?s a southpaw. He?s pretty skilled, but he?s not applicable for this camp.?
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On July 22, 2007, Rigondeaux and teammate Erislandy Lara did not show up for their bouts at the Pan American Games in Brazil. Rigondeaux wanted to turn professional, joining fellow 2004 Cuban Olympians Odlanier Solis, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Yan Barthelemy, who defected earlier. Like his Cuban compatriots, Rigondeaux signed a promotional deal with Ahmet Oener.
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Ring announcer David Diamante gave analysis on Mayweather-McGregor: ?McGregor is the worst opponent that Mayweather has faced probably almost ever,? said Diamante who has announced professional boxing, MMA, and Muay Thai internationally for over ten years. ?To me, it?s not really a fight, it?s more of a spectacle. It?s more like a WWE kind of circus event. I?m definitely going to watch it, but I don?t think it?s a fight. It?s more of an event.?
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McGregor is one of the highest paid MMA fighters and has earned an estimated $10 million fighting American Nate Diaz, even if he lost the much publicized fight. A UFC featherweight champion, McGregor was moving up two weight divisions or 25 lbs to the welterweight division in order to face Diaz.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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