Unless Ido Portal’s been learning how to use an enswell, there will be a new face in Conor McGregor’s corner on August 26.
You’ve got to admire Conor McGregor’s loyalty.
He went from drawing the dole to becoming one of the most recognisable celebrity athletes on planet Earth.
He went from being embarrassed by Joseph Duffy in Cage Warriors to becoming a two-weight world champion for the European organisation.
He went from debuting on the Facebook prelims of a UFC Fight Night to becoming the biggest draw in the history of the sport.
Through all that, he’s been an SBG fighter, he’s always remained loyal to the team where he was forged. So for his professional boxing debut against one of the most dominant champions in the history of pugilism, of course, McGregor’s sticking to the same old reliables.
McGregor’s striking coach and Irish MMA pioneer Owen Roddy confirmed the cornermen on Monday’s MMA Hour. Apart from the cutman, which has yet to be organised, it will be full of recognisable faces.
“At the moment it’s going to be me, John (Kavanagh), possibly Artem (Lobov) and I think there’s four. Obviously, he has to get his own cutman and he hasn’t sorted that yet. It’s myself, John and Artem at the moment.”
Roddy confirmed that McGregor will be drafting in some high-profile sparring partners from the world of boxing, although the names of these fighters won’t be revealed until the camp moves across the Atlantic. Until that happens, all the hard work will be done in Dublin.
“We’re not bringing anybody in as of yet, but who knows down the line. We’re going to be heading stateside over the next couple of weeks, but at the moment, we’re in Dublin, we’re all working together, we’ve come up with a gameplan that we believe can shock the world. We’re going to stick to that for the time being.
“Things can change. If we feel we’re going to bring in some people, we may bring in some people, but nothing’s confirmed just yet.”
We’ll have to wait until August 26 to see what that gameplan is and how effective it can be against a master of the defensive arts of fighting such as Mayweather.
