Conor McGregor’s camp aren’t bothered by that leaked sparring footage that went viral.
Once that clip of Conor McGregor trading blows with Former IBO and IBF welterweight champion Chris van Heerden started doing the rounds, the doubters came out in force.
Van Heerden was upset with McGregor’s website, The Mac Life, accusing them of craftily editing the raw footage of to make the UFC star appear in a better light. He later retracted the complaint and offered his apologies.
After the Floyd Mayweather fight was confirmed, the South African pugilist shared another edited version of the session which showed McGregor getting tagged a lot. He claimed he only did this because so many people were telling him Mayweather would have his hands full trying to land on ‘the Notorious’.
On Monday’s MMA Hour, McGregor’s striking coach Owen Roddy played down the significance of the footage in the context of the Mayweather fight on August 26.
“This was the footage from over a year ago. A pro boxer, I think he was sparring. I’d imagine Conor was just playing about.”
Roddy doesn’t believe the clip is an accurate representation of McGregor’s current boxing ability. From what he’s seen first-hand, he believes McGregor will turn some heads with his performance against the undefeated prizefighter.
“People can put out what clips they want, where they look good and the other person looks good. If that’s what you’re looking at to make an adjustment or make a prediction on Conor’s ability to box, that’s good for us. If they think that Conor’s going to come in and be sluggish and be out of depth, he won’t be.
“I know it’s Mayweather, I know it’s the best defensive boxer, one of the pound-for-pound best ever to do it, but Conor is special, he is unique, he does it all the time. I honestly believe he’s going to do it again.”
A lot of faith from McGregor’s camp, which is completely expected. We’ll have to wait until that date arrives to see if that gameplan that’s been crafted in SBG can actually be implemented effectively against the boxing great.
