Eddie Alvarez Talks Legacy and Conor McGregor
While walking around his childhood neighborhood, UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez laid out his origin story, talked about his legacy and criticised Conor Mcgregor. The interview was apart of Ariel Helwani’s walking interview series. The first installment of the series was was in Ireland with Conor McGregor.
Eddie Alvarez grew up in Kensington, a neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Alvarez said most people know the neighborhood because the film Rocky was filmed their. As Alvarez walked around, urban features familiar to Rocky fans could be seen including the elevated train rail. The scenery drove the conversation towards Alvarez acknowledging how far he has came in his career. The neighborhood had boxing gyms “on every corner” according to Alvarez. He also spoke about going door to door trying to find a friend to box him in the middle of the street. Alvarez says that growing up in Kensington taught him appreciation. He said “there’s a line that I stick to in my life…deprivation equals appreciation.” Alvarez says he tries to remember this and teach it to his kids who are not deprived like he was as a child.
Despite coming from nearly nothing in Kensington, Alvarez was adamant he needed more to cement his legacy. He is looking towards his goal of fighting for one million dollars. He says he feels close. The opponent most likely to help Alvarez to that goal is Conor McGregor. Alvarez did not say McGregor was his only way to a bigger pay day, but he did go into how he thought he’d fair against Mcgregor.
Alvarez called the McGregor bout “talk” at this point, but said McGregor would be foolish to fight him. “When I look at the history of the opponents that were picked (for McGregor)…..I am not a typical opponent (McGregor) would pick”. He called the notion that McGregor beats him in the second round is laughable. Alvarez said “I am more about what’s real and (McGregor) is about perception”. “If Perception is more important, then you don’t go after the best guy in the world”. Alvarez said that “about 7 minutes” of McGregor’s performance at UFC 202 was good, but he got sloppy in the later rounds. Alvarez thinks McGregor would not last with him after those seven minutes.
