Sports

Mayweather’s dad on McGregor: ‘I’d knock him out’

LAS VEGAS – Like virtually every member of the boxing community, Floyd Mayweather Sr. believes Conor McGregor will be embarrassed Saturday night, finding it ludicrous that the UFC Lightweight champion vows to knock out his undefeated son in McGregor’s first-ever professional boxing match.

While Floyd Mayweather Jr. takes every opportunity to praise McGregor’s fighting ability and create suspense, Mayweather Sr. doesn’t seem as concerned with building intrigue in a fight he views as a farce.

“Look, this right here, this is a clown fighting a real fighter,” said Mayweather Sr. “And he’s gonna get totaled up.”

Even if Jr. was replaced with Sr., the 64-year-old father and trainer said the result would be the same, facing a fighter who never has boxed.

“I told him I’d knock him out,” Mayweather Sr. said before the press conference Wednesday at MGM Grand. “I’ll tell him again, after my son gets through knocking your ass out, I’ll do it next.”

Former four-time boxing champion Shane Mosley, who lost a 12-round decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2010, initially suggested recently that McGregor could only possibly win if the former boxer took his son’s place.

“Now, that’s a fight,” Mosley said. “That’s a good fight where I don’t know who is going to win. I slightly pick Floyd Mayweather Sr., but I don’t know who is going to win that fight.”

The idea of McGregor entering a sport Mayweather Sr. built his life around, and taking out the best fighter of a generation, offended the former welterweight. Mayweather Sr. defended his sport as much as his son, stating that McGregor wouldn’t stand a chance to crossover from mixed martial arts and defeat any accomplished boxer, such as Miguel Cotto or Canelo Alvarez.

“Those guys would kill Conor,” Mayweather Sr. said.

Then why is there so much interest in the fight, if so many people believe it’s just a circus?

“That’s why they want to see it,” said Mayweather Sr. “Because it’s a joke.”

And what will be the final punchline, when the 29-year-old novice faces the 40-year-old expert?

“We’re gonna take him out with the body,” Mayweather Sr. said. “That’s how it’s gonna end. I know that.

“A punch don’t mean nothing if you can’t hit nothing. You gotta hit something. There’s not gonna be much he’s gonna hit. If he’s thinking that Floyd’s old and has nothing more, watch [what happens].”