Coach John Kavanagh has been heavily involved in the training camp for UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor as he prepares for his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather.
The longtime coach has now given his two official predictions for the super fight between McGregor and Mayweather.
“When the two of them walk to the middle, one of them has to take a back step. If Floyd takes a back step, which I believe he will, then I predict round six,” Kavanagh said on The MMA Hour. “That’s my prediction on it. I think for the first five rounds, he will back up, he will lie on the ropes the way he does, he will cover up and try to just absorb, and try to wear Conor down. That’s how I think he’ll approach the fight. If he doesn’t take a back step, and we’ll all see it — we’ll all see their feet, we’ll all see who walks backwards — if he walks forward and exchanges, it’ll be a one-round fight. It’ll be over in a minute. Because he’d be fighting in such a way that’s not normal to him, he won’t have had time to develop the skillset for an aggressive exchanging fighter. Like I said, I didn’t know a lot about Floyd before this, but I did watch his fights for his defensive work. So for him to go in there and try to trade with Conor and not walk backwards, would be so alien to him but so normal for Conor — that’s exactly what Conor’s the best at — he’ll be unconscious in a minute. But I think he skips to the middle. I think he has his classic hand position, Philly Shell hand position, and he’ll feint and throw a jab or something, Conor will walk forward, [Mayweather will] back up, and he’ll aim to just pot-shot, cover up, cover up, pot-shot, clinch, pot-shot, and just try to get through the first couple of rounds. As I believe that will be the case, that will be the scenario, I think round six, Conor’s hand is raised.”
McGregor would pull a major upset if either of Kavanagh’s predictions came true, because the UFC fighter is making his pro boxing debut in this encounter.
Kavanagh is also excited for the 8 ounce gloves that McGregor will use in the fight, gloves that he just saw the other day.
“It is twice the weight of the UFC glove, but it’s half the weight of the sparring glove. It’s a much smaller glove,” said Kavanagh. “I actually just saw the gloves the other day that he’d be wearing — and I raised an eyebrow, let’s put it that way. They’re small, fast gloves. They will fit in the cracks that even the 10-ounce wouldn’t get into. It’s made me that bit more excited.”
Conor McGregor versus Floyd Mayweather takes place on Saturday, August 26 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
