Mayweather braces for 'toe-to-toe' battle against McGregor

Floyd Mayweather Jr. put up a typically brash front during his four-city tour with Conor McGregor to promote their upcoming boxing match on August 26 in Las Vegas.

The unbeaten American talked trash and exchanged potshots with McGregor, the brash Irishman who made a name for himself as a mixed martial artist before seeking a big money fight against Mayweather.

Mayweather is the odds-on favorite in the bout against McGregor, who is fighting in a boxing match for the very first time in his professional career. In contrast, Mayweather is widely regarded as one of the best fighters in his era, and has put together an immaculate 49-0 win-loss record.

Despite all this, however, Mayweather believes that he is in for a battle against the younger McGregor for several reasons.

"He wants to win bad. He really wants to win bad, extremely bad," Mayweather said, as quoted by Boxing Scene.  

Mayweather noted that his opponents usually take one of two approaches: they either "play it safe," or "go straight for the kill," like Marcos Maidana did in May 2014. Much to the shock of pundits, the Argentine had considerable success against Mayweather and the American won a majority decision.

McGregor will most likely approach their fight the way Maidana did, according to Mayweather.

"He's going to come out and go for the kill," he predicted. "He's a heavy hitter, so I've got to be cautious."

"Remember, I'm older, so I can't move like I used to move," Mayweather added. "So it's basically going to be a toe-to-toe battle."

The 40-year-old Mayweather has not fought since September 2015, when he easily outpointed Andre Berto en route to retirement, before McGregor enticed him to fight again.

McGregor's gung-ho approach, combined with Mayweather's age, will make for an exciting fight – at least, said the American.

"I've seen it before," Mayweather said. "When these fighters get upset with me, they come out like they're going to try and kill me."

"My job is to do what I do – just keep my composure," he added.

Despite Mayweather's efforts to hype up McGregor, the Irishman remains a huge underdog in their bout. Nevertheless, the American continues to warn analysts and fans alike that McGregor "does have a chance."

To underscore his point, he cited a bout that took place earlier in June, where the underdog who was given very little chance of winning pulled off a truly shocking upset.

"We just saw, a week ago, two weeks ago, a guy who started boxing at 18, a teacher, beat one of the best fighters of all time, which was Manny Pacquiao," said Mayweather, referring to Jeff Horn's controversial victory over the "Pacman."

"So anything can happen in a combat sport."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Guess how much Pacquiao will earn from Algieri fight

LAS VEGAS, Nevada – In just six weeks, the Manny Pacquiao-Chris Algieri fight will take place in Macau, China, and both fighters are gearing up for one of the most anticipated boxing matches of the year.

"It should be a great fight, and I hope Manny is gonna train very, very hard for this fight, because Algieri has the size advantage," said Top Rank chief executive Bob Arum. "He is a very intelligent kid, and he moves very well."

"Manny has to be on top of his game," he added.

In an exclusive interview with Balitang America, Arum also confirmed the boxers' fight purses.

"Manny's purse, from various sources, is guaranteed to be not less than $20 million," said Arum. "But what Chris is getting, that's up to his promoter, but I'm paying him $2.75 million."

When asked about Pacquiao's tax woes, Arum said: "The Philippines has a very good judicial system and Manny went to court in the Philippines and got an injunction against the tax people, because what they were doing was absolutely insane."

"They were taxing him on revenue that didn't exist, and when they asked her what was her theory as for the revenue, she said she read it in the newspaper," added Arum, referring to Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares.

Arum noted that Henares perhaps didn't realize that there are other expenses and "that the promoter has to get paid."

"What Manny got paid is a public record. Her conduct is, as an outsider, is really disturbing, and I think there's a lot of politics," Arum added.

It was last year when the Bureau of Internal Revenue froze some of Pacquiao's bank accounts, days after the boxer's victory against Brandon "Bam Bam" Rios.

Arum said that although it is inappropriate for him to comment on government officials, he believes that President Benigno Aquino III should take action.

"I think the President should be aware on what's happening and what she's doing, what a loose cannon she seems to be, and take appropriate action," said Arum.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com