Floyd Mayweather, with a straight face, says Conor McGregor has the edge: ‘I’ve lost a step’
Five-division world boxing champion appears to get the mind games going with latest comments about UFC star
Even though his odds have plummeted since the fight was announced back in June, Floyd Mayweather still is a heavy, heavy favourite to beat MMA fighter Conor McGregor in their boxing match on August 26, with the oddsmakers giving him somewhere around an 85 per cent implied probability of victory.
And why not? Mayweather is a five-division world boxing champion, while McGregor began strictly training as a boxer only recently.
But to hear Mayweather talk to ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, one would think this fight is going to be much closer than everyone thinks, to the point where it seems as if Mayweather thinks he’s the underdog.
“When you look at myself and Conor McGregor on paper, he’s taller, has a longer reach, he’s a bigger man from top to bottom. He’s a lot younger, so youth is on his side,” the 40-year-old Mayweather said of McGregor, 29.
“And I’ve been off a couple of years. And I’m in my 40s. So, if you look at everything on paper, it leans toward Conor McGregor.”
None of that is untrue. Besides the 11-year age difference, McGregor is an inch taller and has a two-inch reach advantage.