Conor McGregor hits out at Floyd Mayweather over weight claims

Conor McGregor has responded to claims he may struggle to make the weight limit against Floyd Mayweather.

Conor McGregor at yesterday’s Las Vegas promotional event for his light middleweight bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr

Conor McGregor has responded to claims he may struggle to make the weight for his light middleweight bout against Floyd Mayweather by suggesting the undefeated former champion will be praying to a new God of boxing when their grudge match climaxes on Sunday afternoon (AEST).

Mayweather made the incendiary claims during an interview with a boxing website earlier this week and McGregor bristled when they were raised at a press conference following a promo event in Las Vegas yesterday.

“He knows nothing — fool of a thing,” McGregor said. “Let him keep praying. Praying for weight, praying for fatigue, praying for me to take a back step. All he is doing is praying. Well he is praying to the new God of boxing.”

McGregor faces a fine if he fails to make the 154-pound (70kg) weight limit, although there seems little doubt he could afford it given he stands to earn more than $100 million for the fight.

Mayweather could make up to $400m depending on how popular the pay-per-view sales are leading into the fight. The bout has been billed in some quarters as a battle for supremacy between boxing and the UFC. But while McGregor and Mayweather have agreed on little, they concurred yesterday that both sports would thrive regardless of who won.

“Boxing and UFC have different fans bases,” Mayweather said.

“Both entities can co-exist and do very well, and it has been shown thus far. Look at the year boxing has had. You can’t be nothing but happy with the match-ups we have had this year.

“Boxing is all everyone is ­talking about. Nothing is a threat to boxing. Boxing is legendary and it’s here to stay.”

Both men have talked a good game in the lead-up, with their ­respective camps making it clear they expect a war. Mayweather’s motivation is to repay the fans who walked away disappointed from his mega-fight against Manny Pacquiao. The fight drew one of the biggest audiences in the sport’s history yet turned out a fizzer, for which Mayweather was largely held culpable.

McGregor’s motivation is much simpler. He wants to win, and the expectation is that the only way he can achieve that lofty goal is to attack from the outset.

If the fight goes the distance, Mayweather would appear to have the upper hand. If the fight finishes early, McGregor stands a greater chance to win given he has hard hands and big punching power, as shown by his knockouts in the Octagon of UFC.

The difficulty could be catching Mayweather, although the former Olympian has been hit ­before, most notably when he was rocked in the early stages of his fight against Shane Mosley seven years ago. He has been dropped only once as a professional and that was 16 years ago when he fought Carlos Hernandez, although replays suggest Mayweather may have been more troubled by hand problems than by any punches from Hernandez.

History has shown Mayweather is hard to hit and almost ­impossible to knock down. “From the beginning, the opening bell, we’re going to get into it,” Mayweather said.

“I truly believe he is going to come out. My thing is this — I dealt with that before. The thing is, if he comes out like that he has to realise he has to keep that same endurance for 12 rounds if he plans on going the distance.

“Floyd Mayweather lives by Floyd Mayweather. Everyone worries about what everyone else thinks. I am OK. I have been here before numerous times and I’m a fighter at the end of the day.

“The thing is this: when it’s a fight of this magnitude, it’s all about keeping your composure and one thing about me is I keep my composure. I do my job and I stay focused.”