Mayweather vs. McGregor: Ex-champ Kevin Kelley believes Conor needs to ‘turn his punches’
Kevin Kelley offers advice to McGregor on how to throw his punches.
Former WBC featherweight champion Kevin Kelley saw the same famous Conor McGregor-Paulie Malignaggi sparring video you likely did: McGregor, 29, kept throwing punches at the 36-year-old Malignaggi and knocked him to canvas. But he might have noticed something you didn’t.
Kelley, who has a 60-10 career boxing record, noticed McGregor likes to “slap his punches” but says he needs to turn them over instead. “He’s not going to be effective slapping shots. He’s going to have a problem with [Floyd] Mayweather trying to do that. I saw him slapping his shots a little bit, and Floyd can see those coming,” Kelley said.
Kelley loves Malignaggi, but he says McGregor, the UFC lightweight champion, should have selected a younger sparring partner to prepare for Mayweather. Kelley said he would have chosen a boxer who is 10-0, 12-0, 13-0, or guys turning pro because they are strong and hungry. He felt Malignaggi didn’t pose too much of a challenge as a sparring partner because McGregor was showboating during the sparring sessions.
While a lot of people are calling this much-anticipated McGregor-Mayweather bout a fight, Kelley calls it an event. He said there’s a difference between an event and a fight because you go to an event due to its magnitude. According to Kelley, you go to a fight to see who will come out victorious.
Like most boxing fans, Kelley predicts that Mayweather will defeat McGregor in a 12-round decision. The reporter told Kelley that Mayweather said if the match comes down to a decision, then it would be a moral victory for McGregor. Kelley agreed with those sentiments.
“Remember, Floyd isn’t a puncher. Conor McGregor picked the right opponent. He didn’t pick Triple G [Gennady Golovkin]. He picked Mayweather, because if he was in a boxing match with a puncher like Triple G, the fight would be over,” Kelley said.
Kelley believes Mayweather is a great boxer but not a phenomenal puncher. What Mayweather should do in this fight, according to Kelley, is go straight to McGregor’s body and “slowly take it out” on him.
Mayweather said he’s going to go at McGregor and doesn’t want this fight to become a defensive bout. McGregor and Mayweather will collide on Saturday, Aug. 26 at the Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena.
