Conor McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather: Tough Ain?t Enough In Boxing
By Mark F. Villanueva
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 29 Aug 2017
Conor McGregor?s boxing skills may have been a big mystery to many, but it doesn?t take one to be an expert of the sport to know that he?d lost his fight against Floyd Mayweather the very day he brutally undermined the discipline itself. Leading up to the match against the defensive genius he declared boxing as some sort of a breather for him ?cause he?d only have to worry about two hands. There?d be no kicks, no grappling, and that sort. Just boxing, as easy as if the sport had not been sharpened to perfection for hundreds of years.
It wasn?t that experts knew for a fact that he ultimately lacked the skill or the experience to box, or the endurance to fight for the whole gamut that did him in, but through his mouth; the very same orifice that belched out at the podium dragon-like. It doesn?t really matter what sport one gets involved in one needs to respect it. The same goes for boxers planning on a crossover to the MMA.
?Trust me on that,? the Irishman said. He declared he?d be the future god of boxing, and his hardcore fans rallied forth behind him. Many of them knew he would never beat Floyd Mayweather, but stood by him anyway and they deserve a special kind of respect for it. McGregor said he?d knock him out in the fourth round, and a massive number of fans actually believed he would. He said it?d be done in one round, and others shared the story like news, blindly even, not unlike fake news one reads about today?s politics.
Ask a blind follower how that was possible and the likelihood is that one draws out specious arguments about his toughness and power as the key. But speed and power are no more than mere raw resources. But, no, some said and went on to destroy Mayweather?s persona. He?s a chicken they say. He?s afraid, they say, even after he?s formally signed up to fight against McGregor whose size difference is quite staggering. The enemy is not who you fight in the squared circle, but yourself.
What has Conor McGregor have to offer apart from his size and MMA background? All that supposed power is nothing without the proper execution of one?s punches- timing, form and all, or against someone who reads them a mile away. And one ought to know sheer toughness isn?t enough in boxing. If it were that simple wouldn?t you suppose everyone would be doing it, so to speak?
In spite of his obvious disadvantages McGregor fans opted to believe he could do it. If he could touch him, he?d knock him out, he said, and they trusted him without proper vetting. Bless them. They all saw him look like a clown during public training and they hailed it as a unique approach to something that?s already been there way before their great grandfathers were ever born.
Conor McGregor did get to hit the comparatively diminutive Floyd Mayweather, who walked him down with a smile on his face. He didn?t run around even if he could, and as many have expected. When was the last time ?Money? Mayweather ever started a round without jabbing? Surprisingly, he didn?t employ proper distancing, too, nor did he bother to cut the ring. At one point of the fight both fighters were so boxed up they looked like they were about to dance to a sweet song. You would never see Floyd Mayweather like that in his career, squared up and all.
Despite all the talk of size and power, McGregor had all the chances in the world to hit him, and hit him he did, but the smaller boxer just wouldn?t go down. McGregor didn?t even create a dent on an opponent whose head he had sworn to crush. Let?s not even talk about him fighting a boxer of his size, like maybe Golovkin? Sure, it was fun for a minute.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Mark F. Villanueva.
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