Floyd Mayweather agrees to megafight shake-up

The Irishman is desperate to have as little padding as possible — improving his odds of scoring a KO victory when they meet on August 26.

And Money has shocked fans by agreeing to wear 8oz gloves instead of the normal 10oz.

It is a big move from the American, who McGregor believed chose to fight at 154 lbs because bouts above 147 lbs are usually fought with the heavier mitts in Nevada.

Mayweather said: “McGregor, let’s fight in 8 oz gloves. Don’t believe what you hear in the media. Don’t believe what you hear on blog sites. If it’s not coming directly from me, then it’s not true.

“I’m telling McGregor ‘let’s fight in 8 oz gloves’. McGregor can fight in any brand he prefers or chooses.

“I’ll be wearing 8 oz Grant gloves. Whatever advantage McGregor needs to feel more comfortable in the ring, I’m willing to accommodate.

“Let’s give the boxing and MMA fans what they want to see.”

Mayweather has only fought at 154 lbs in three of his 49 bouts – against Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto and Saul Alvarez.

He wore 10oz gloves for each of the victories, which all came via the judges’ scorecards.

In the UFC, glove size ranges from 4oz to 6oz and McGregor has requested in the past that they change the weight of the gloves for their cross-code match-up.

Last month, Mayweather hinted he was open to the move to which McGregor replied: “Don’t fool the public.

“All these rules, all these restrictions, it doesn’t faze me, it amuses me. The gloves, they have to be 10-ounce for 154 pounds.

“He’s never fought at 154. I think he’s fought at 154 maybe once. He wants the gloves up. No problem. Give him the gloves up. I’ll wear 10 ounces.

“No Mexican-made gloves. OK, no problem. No gloves made out of horsehair. All right, no problem. I don’t give a f***.
“We’re only wearing gloves in our game about five years, so I don’t give a s*** about gloves or any of that.

“I’m just enjoying it. It’s funny to me, all these rules. All I need is a gum-shield, line me up to the ring and I’m good to go.”

CONOR MUST DO IT IN FOUR ROUNDS: MCILROY

CONOR McGregor can smash Floyd Mayweather inside four rounds if he connects with his left hand, insists Rory McIlroy.

But the golfer reckons his mate will have “no chance” if it goes beyond a fifth because Mayweather’s superior boxing skills will show through.

McIlroy — who is set to name best mate Harry Diamond on his bag for his next two events after sacking caddie JP Fitzgerald — is a massive boxing and UFC fan.

And he has been following all the build up to the billion dollar fight taking place in Las Vegas on August 26.

McGregor won the verbal sparring — but four-time Major champ McIlroy believes he can also win in the ring.

He told the Daily Mail: “This isn’t just because I know Conor, but I think he’s got a chance.

“In the first four rounds, if he roughs him up a little bit and connects with a few left hands …

“If he gets in there and he’s sort of different and awkward, weird and unorthodox, you just never know.

“Everyone says Mayweather has had his difficulties with southpaws in the past, but if it goes past the fifth round and he [McGregor] hasn’t been able to land a shot then he’s got no chance.

“I think it has to be within the first three or four rounds.”

And McIlroy, from Belfast in Northern Ireland, was quick to highlight McGregor’s humble side despite all the bravado.

He added: “He goes to the Straight Blast gym in Dublin and spends time with the kids.

“There’s a lot of stuff people don’t see with McGregor. I hope he does well. I’m glad he got the fight. You never know what will happen.”

FLOYD SHOWS OFF HIS MANY TALENTS

Floyd Mayweather will be hoping to hit Conor McGregor with some accurate shots of his own … but for now he is finding his range with a basketball.

The undefeated boxing champ took a break from training to shoot some hoops with some friends.

Mayweather, whose record stands at 49 wins and zero defeats, has been hitting the gym hard ahead of the richest fight in boxing history on August 26.

But the 40-year-old found time to relax as he enjoyed another hobby of his playing basketball.

Mayweather took to Instagram to post a video of himself sinking shots.

Alongside it he said: “Just shooting round. Working on my mid-range jumper.”

 

Just shooting around, working on my midrange jumper #nba @iam_jcraw @agentearle @nba

A post shared by Floyd Mayweather (@floydmayweather) on Aug 1, 2017 at 9:56am PDT

And it appears his talents don’t just lie in boxing having connected with the bottom of the net an impressive 11 times in a row.

Meanwhile McGregor is keeping his 16 million followers updated ahead of the fight, uploading pictures of himself training in the gym.

But it appears his training session almost got out of hand when he had to be separated during a fiery sparring session.

According to top ref Joe Cortez, he had to play peacemaker when McGregor and sparring partner Paulie Malignaggi tried to “rough each other up.”

He told RUSH 93: “It was the real thing, I had to stop the action, say, ‘You guys are a little out of control here, you’ve got to stop this’. You know, they got a little rough.

“They were both roughing each other up and I had to stop the action like it was a regular fight.”