Conor McGregor’s boxing coach: ‘I have no doubt in my mind’ he’ll beat Floyd Mayweather

Conor McGregor’s boxing coach is confident McGregor is going to beat Floyd Mayweather. How confident? He’s not even entertaining the thought of it going the other way.

“I have no doubt in my mind he’s gonna do it,” Owen Roddy told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “I think it's gonna be one of the most insane nights ever.”

Just about every expert — in boxing and MMA — is giving McGregor no chance in beating Mayweather. It’s obvious why. McGregor has no pro boxing experience. He’s an MMA fighter — a great one and UFC lightweight champion — but has never stepped into a boxing ring on the professional level. Mayweather is one of the best boxers of all time, a defensive whiz who has made the best fighters of his generation look foolish. Mayweather is 49-0; McGregor is 0-0.

On paper, it seems like McGregor would need a miracle to beat Mayweather on Aug. 26 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. That doesn’t deter Roddy, who has seen McGregor perform near miracles — like knocking out all-time great Jose Aldo in 13 seconds — throughout his career.

“It’s a tall task,” Roddy said. “But if anybody could do it, Conor can. He shocks the world every time. Every time he fights he’s doubted, people are like, ‘You cant do this, you cant do that.’

“We know what Conor is capable of. Conor does it every time.”

Roddy doesn’t just think McGregor will win. He believes McGregor will knock Mayweather out. The best boxers in the world have not been able to drop or even hurt Mayweather. The coach remains supremely sure of his fighter.

“I think he’s gonna put him away,” Roddy said. “I think he’s gonna KO him. I think it’ll take a couple of rounds. And I know my phone is about to explode, I’m sure. But look, Conor does these things. He does these exceptional things all the time. If he says he’s gonna go in and knock him out, I think he’s gonna go in and knock him out.”

Belief, of course, won’t be enough. Roddy said he’s been working with McGregor for a potential Mayweather fight for months, long before it was officially signed last week. It has ramped up recently, Roddy said, and soon they will be moving their training camp from Ireland to the United States. Roddy said he and McGregor have already broken down film on Mayweather and seen possible things to exploit.

“I don’t really want to get into details on what we’re looking to do,” Roddy said. “But, I mean, nobody is perfect. Nobody is perfect. [Mayweather is] unbelievable defensively, he’s pound-for-pound one of the greatest, but everybody has holes, everybody makes mistakes, everybody has predictable patterns that they do over and over again.”

Roddy thinks it’ll take McGregor a few rounds, but once he has seen what Mayweather brings to the table, he will adjust and finish him.

“I think mid fight,” Roddy said. “I think a couple of rounds in. We need to see what Mayweather is gonna be coming with.

“Conor has an exceptional ability to read fighters. … Read fighters and where they’re going and read what they do. He can do it really, really quickly. I think it’s just about him figuring out where Mayweather is gonna be on said shot and then putting the appropriate shots to catch him.”

McGregor will be wearing 10-ounce boxing gloves for this contest, not the four-ounce gloves he wears for MMA, where he’s one of the best knockout artists in the UFC. Roddy doesn’t think that will affect his power.

“Conor hits like a middleweight,” Roddy said. “You can ask any of the middleweights in our gym. He hits as hard, if not harder. It’s strange. He’s got cat-like reflexes. He’s so quick on his slips and his pulls. He’s very accurate as well. I think he’s gonna slip and fire and Mayweather will be on wobbly legs. It might be a counter, too. That’s what I see. That’s what I see in my head.”

Very few people in either sport will agree with Roddy sand see it his way. He acknowledges that and joked that his social media will probably get “bombarded” after his comments. But he’s seen McGregor rise to the occasion in impossible situations too many times to doubt him.

“I don’t care, because I believe it as well,” Roddy said. “I think he’s gonna go in and do it. Largest upset, shock the world. We’re just gonna sit back and enjoy it.”