UFC star: Why McGregor can beat Mayweather

Kevin Iole | Cagewriter

26 July 2017 at 2:54 am

Stipe Miocic is the kind of guy those who run professional boxing have been looking for forever. He’s a heavyweight with punching power, extraordinary athletic ability and a lust for competition.

He was a solid boxer as an amateur, and made it to the third round of the Golden Gloves national finals in 2009 before losing to Bryant Jennings, a successful pro who once fought Wladimir Klitschko for the heavyweight title. He probably would have been a star had he chosen boxing, but ultimately he pursued a mixed martial arts career.

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He made the right call, of course, because he’s the reigning UFC heavyweight champion and already has tied the record for most successful title defenses.

He’s also one of those best positioned to give an opinion on UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor’s bid to defeat the legendary Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match.

Mayweather and McGregor will box on August 27 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in what is expected to become the highest-grossing fight in combat sports history.

Mayweather opened as an overwhelming favourite, but most of the bets have been on McGregor as the odds have dropped. But Miocic isn't discounting McGregor’s chances of shocking the world, either.

"It’s a fight, so anything he can happen," Miocic said. "Definitely on paper, Mayweather looks like a shoo-in, no doubt about that. He's the best boxer of all-time. He's the G.O.A.T. But McGregor, he moves well, he hits hard and all it takes is one punch."

Miocic said McGregor's self-belief is also an intangible that can't be dismissed out of hand.

"He's a confident guy and he doesn't care what anyone else thinks," he said. "He believes in himself and what he can do. He doesn't care who it is. It could be five guys, and he thinks he could beat them all. That kind of confidence makes a difference and like I said, with one punch, you never know."

McGregor predicted he’d knock out Mayweather, who has only been down once in his career, inside of four rounds. Mayweather is 49-0, won a bronze medal in the 1996 Olympics and is regarded as one of the best boxers in history.

McGregor, who has had no boxing matches, told Yahoo Sports that contrary to popular opinion, he believes he’ll have the advantage in footwork in the bout because he understands the footwork of a number of styles of martial arts.

MMA fighters have to defend more types of attacks than boxers, who only have to defend against punches. MMA fighters have to worry about punches, elbows, kicks, knees, being taken down, wrestling, judo, jiu-jitsu and more.

But Miocic said that the biggest edge most boxers have is that they tend to throw straight punches while MMA fighters tend to loop them.

"I was taught to throw straight punches, because the best punch is the straightest punch," Miocic said.

McGregor is, pound-for-pound, one of the most powerful strikers in MMA. One of his major weapons, his arsenal of deadly kicks, will be taken away from him, and he’s set up many of his punches with kicks.

Miocic didn't want to really pick a winner, but seemed like he was leaning toward Mayweather.

"If Mayweather does what he does, look, he’s the G.O.A.T.," Miocic said. "If he plays his regular game, he'll be fine. With McGregor, he's strong, he's fast and he hits hard. It's a tough fight.

"Mayweather can box for days and he doesn't get tired. It's a little bit different with MMA. If Conor hits him with something good early, it's going to help him out a lot, but the farther it goes, the tougher it's going to get.

"Mayweather seems to keep getting better. His eyes are so big when he fights because he sees so many angles and he's phenomenal at what he does. McGregor has great movement and moves well, too. So we'll see. It’s a fight."