Coach: Floyd Mayweather Has 'Never Dealt' with Someone like Conor McGregor
There's nothing quite like the atmosphere surrounding a Conor McGregor fight and his head striking coach believes that could play a factor in his upcoming boxing match against Floyd Mayweather.
Owen Roddy, who will oversee McGregor's training and game plan for the fight on Aug. 26, has seen plenty of top fighters wither and fade when faced with the pressure that the current UFC champion unleashes both inside and outside of the ring.
McGregor's strategy rarely starts when he actually faces an opponent in the fight but instead he begins chipping away during interviews, press conferences, weigh-ins and even the customary face off ahead of an event.
Of course, Mayweather is no stranger to being a part of a huge extravaganza, but Roddy says he's never seen anything like what he'll face going up against McGregor.
"This is the thing, Conor brings so much to the table. It consumes people," Roddy said in a new interview with the Mac Life. "When Conor fights, the pressure consumes everybody.
"Mayweather is good at dealing with pressure as well, he's fought on the big stage, but he's never dealt with Ireland and Conor all on him. It's going to be interesting to see."
The real battle may start next week when McGregor and Mayweather come face to face for the first time while engaging in a four city world tour that starts in Los Angeles and ends in London a few days later.
McGregor has notoriously carried a massive fan base wherever he travels with Irish fans popping up in every city where he competes. Roddy expects that to follow suit for this fight with Mayweather with the Irish faithful taking over Las Vegas in the days leading up to the bout on Aug. 26.
"The whole of Vegas is going to be green. That's one thing, it's always overwhelming that the amount of Irish people that make the effort to come out and get behind Conor and get behind the team, it's fantastic," Roddy said. "It fills you with pride, it's great to know that everyone is behind you, everyone is backing you and I know for a fact there will be a sea of green in August."
As far as the fight preparation goes, Roddy is not only excited to get McGregor ready for his boxing match but he also looks forward to the chess match that will be figuring out Mayweather's world class skills that made him a 49-0 fighter.
Recommended Articles
Mayweather is best known as a defensive genius, who rarely takes one hard shot during a fight much less any opponent being able to do any serious punishment to him over 12 rounds.
"I think the margin for error is a lot less this time around," Roddy said. "When it comes to MMA, [Conor] was always leaps and bounds ahead of everybody that he faced. The margin for error is a lot less, you're fighting an unbelievable boxer, one of the best to ever do it. So you have to be on your game and we are on our game and Conor is on his game.
"Every time we go into a camp, we all seem to improve. Everything gets better, everything gets sharper, everything gets more refined and it's the same this time. We're ready to go."
Perhaps the best weapon McGregor will have inside the ring with Mayweather is his uncanny ability to find an opening before unleashing his fight finishing power.
Roddy can't help but be impressed by what McGregor always seems to do when he sizes up an opponent and then begins picking them apart minute by minute, round by round until they laying on the canvas, staring up at the lights.
"That's one of the amazing qualities that Conor has. He's an unbelievable athlete, he has an unbelievable ability to work out his opponents and figure them out very quickly," Roddy said. "He's got amazing speed and power, he's got crazy reflexes. But his ability to do that when the whole world is watching, on the biggest stage, that's amazing. It's unbelievable. There's not many people on Earth that can do it but he is one of those guys.
"I think he's going to be able to do it again. Every time he does it, people say he can't do it and he proves them wrong and I think he's going to do it again."
During his UFC career, McGregor nicknamed himself "Mystic Mac" for being able to call his shot in past fights, but he hasn't done that yet when it comes to Mayweather.
There's a very good chance McGregor will unveil that prediction during the upcoming world tour and Roddy absolutely believes his prognostication will come true.
"Conor always goes in, he knows the holes in people's games. He's very good at picking them out very early and I think it's going to be the same as always," Roddy said.
"He'll find a hole, pick the shot, land the shot, and then Ireland goes nuts again."
