The Floyd Mayweather v Conor McGregor fight hype took off on Tuesday at The Staple Centre in Los Angeles as the two dominant fighters began their four-stop tour in Los Angeles to promote their Aug. 26 clash.
The eye of media.com was not granted a seat at the packed press conference, neither will we be afforded one at the big fight we are told, because of ”too many applications from the world press” for this fight. Disappointing! Instead, I have had to liaise with a writer from a U.S publication for an update of what transpired at the press conference. As a consequence we also have no pictures of the our own for the press conference circus that took place and is likely to repeat itself in other press conferences to follow.
Mayweather is one of boxing’s best purists who has proved impossible to beat so far. He has taken on and beaten the best in five different weights, although he appears to have avoided Manny Pacquao when the latter was in his peak as an undefeated and very dangerous fighter.
McGregor is a very aggressive and tough MMA fighter, but boxing is a completely different game in which he won’t be able to use his legs and elbows, or wrestling instincts to muscle his way through to a victory. He still cannot be written off completely, and expressed plenty of confidence in promoting their mega dollar fight next month.
“I’m absolutely honored to be here before you and give you this great spectacle. Somebody’s ‘0’ has got to go,” McGregor said during the first meeting between the two at the Staples Center. Make no mistake about it: McGregor was referencing Mayweather’s perfect record.
“He is fxxxxx,” 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.” In a cheap and none credible jibe at Mayweather’s choice of a track suit, McGregor said:
“He’s in a tracksuit. He can’t even afford a suit anymore,” McGregor said. Mayweather responded: “He look good for a seven-figure fighter; he look good for a seven-figure fighter,” Mayweather said. “I look good for a nine-figure fighter.” However, McGregor caused some outrage when he told Mayweather ”Dance for me boy, dance for me”. Many took his words to amount to a racial jibe at Mayweather because the term ‘boy’ is considered to be racially derogatory in many parts of America.
FLIRT
McGregor is known to flirt with racially charged under tonnes to promote some of his fights. In 2016, when promoting his fight against Nick Diaz, he referred to him as a cholo gangster from the hoodMcGregor has also been accused of using race to hype up his fight with Brazilian Jose Aldo. At a pre-fight press conference in Brazil, McGregor said, “I own this town, I own Rio de Janeiro.”
“I would invade his favela on horseback, and would kill anyone who wasn’t fit to work, but we’re in a new time, so I’ll whoop his ass instead.” Mayweather has said he did not consider any of McGregor’s words to be racist, taking his words to be just fight hype. Whether true or not, what matters is the fact McGregor is himself undefeated and expressing enough confidence to build interest in a fight many believe to be one sided. If McGregor is anything as dangerous in a boxing ring as he is as an MMA fighter, this could be an interesting encounter.
Mayweather has all the experience in the world and is an extremely elusive fighter. McGregor will need a whole lot of sparring sessions with good slippery boxers(there aren’t many at all) to be able to win this fight, but his strength and aggression alone may make for a good fight.
With a month to go, there will be more press conferences in Toronto, Newyork, and London, where more profanities and fight hype talk will be expected.
