McGregor holds strong on prediction of a knockout

Conor McGregor has his hands wrapped before a media workout Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Las Vegas. McGregor is scheduled to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a boxing match Aug. 26 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

LAS VEGAS — Conor McGregor is convinced he will beat Floyd Mayweather on Aug. 26, inside of four rounds.

And if the Nevada Athletic Commission approves the fighters’ request to use eight-ounce gloves, he said he will beat Mayweather in the first six minutes of the fight.

“He’ll be unconscious inside two rounds, really one round, only for the 10-second count I will give him maybe surviving into the second,” said McGregor, who enters the boxing world with a 21-3 MMA record. “But if it’s 10-ounce gloves, maybe four rounds. But under four rounds he’ll be unconscious.”

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But if McGregor plans to fight the same way he worked out for the media on Friday at UFC’s exquisite headquarters in southwest Las Vegas, Mayweather shouldn’t have any problem improving to 50-0.

The 29-year-old Irishman simulated a 12-round boxing match by dancing around punching bags for roughly 47 minutes, at times looking like an out-of-sync boxer with wide swings that left his guard down, awkward combinations and unnecessary shuffling. Other times he looked like an MMA fighter eager to charge his opponent, something he obviously can’t do in a boxing match.

But with as much hype and promotion being thrown into the ring with both fighters, McGregor left plenty of intrigue and insists he didn’t show half the boxing skills he honed has a youth in Ireland, simply teasing anyone in attendance and everyone else who may have tuned into any livestreaming on social media.

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“I don’t know how many times I’ve shocked the world, and I’m going to shock it once again,” McGregor said. “It’s not going to end well for Floyd. It’s not going to end well for all the people doubting me.”

The 29-year-old Irishman insists nothing has changed in his training, other than the fact he can’t use his legs or take his opponent to the ground, and he’s the same hard-working fighter that won two Ultimate Fighting Championship titles.

“I show up to the gym, I work hard, and through my hard work I gain my confidence – that’s been the same since day one,” said McGregor, the reigning UFC Lightweight Champion and former UFC Featherweight Champion. “The fundamentals are still there, I show up, I work hard.”

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While speculation is McGregor will be the aggressor early on, his gameplan and strategy remain a mystery since this will be his first professional boxing match. What hasn’t been a mystery is the air of confidence he displays, combined with a clear disdain for his opponent that has him assured he will hand Mayweather his first professional loss.

“You can’t prepare for me, you can’t prepare for me, you can’t prepare for the movement, you can’t prepare for any of it,” McGregor said. “He can sit here and watch this (workout), and I’m sure he has been watching that. Let him watch, let him try and study, but you cannot prepare for this. There is nobody in the game that moves like me, that strikes like me and that has the confidence like me.

“This is a fight that has been in my crosshairs since Floyd’s been opening his mouth, simple as that. I see a beaten man in his eyes, in his body language, in everything he does. I’m going to knock him out bad, he’s too small. I know he’s fast, I know he’s got good reflexes, I know he’s experienced. I don’t care. I hit you, you fall, and that’s it. He will be unconscious.”