Mayweather trainer talks about McGregor’s ‘nutsy’ skills

Nate Jones, former Olympic bronze medalist and Floyd Mayweather Jr’s assistant trainer appeared recently on Submission Radio to discuss Floyd Mayweather’s preparation for his boxing match with Conor McGregor on August 26. Most of the MMA community is happy to see Notorious making 75 million dollars, and a lot of fighters would like to try a boxing match with a name boxer too. However, many in the boxing community have criticized the bout as a farce.

Jones offered a number of arguments for why MayGregor is good for the sweet science.

“It’s MMA combining with boxing and this is something that boxing needs,” said Jones. I mean, for real, for real, Floyd is doing it for the legacy of the game because boxing is widely down. But MMA, with the blend of boxing, it’s going to bring an attraction that the world has never seen before. And this may happen again. This may open the door, and somewhere in the future this can happen again. So Floyd is giving boxing a little bit more recognition and that’s what boxing needs right now. Because a lot of worldwide fans from boxing are signing out and they’re taking up MMA, and he just wanna steal the fans back and put boxing back where it need to be.

Former Olympic gold medalist, multiple division world champion, and promoter Oscar De La Hoya said boxing may never recover from MayGregor.

First of all, Oscar is one of my Olympian comrades. He was in the 1992 Olympics and I was in 1996, so I’m not gonna knock him or disrespect him in any type of way,” said the genial Jones. “But I guarantee you this, if he had an opportunity to do it, he would do it. Boxing needs another push and Floyd is giving it another push. And if he had Floyd Mayweather he wouldn’t be saying nothing, he’d be letting the fight go on. To me, it’s just the fact that he’s not able to do it and he’s not in those shoes to do it and Floyd’s able to do it and that’s one thing he’s mad at. But it’s gonna bring boxing back where it need to be. It’s gonna bring more MMA fans to boxing and get the world back appreciating boxing like they once used to do.

If McGregor was preparing to fight Mayweather under MMA rules, it might not be as tough a camp as Diaz II. So is Mayweather taking McGregor seriously?

“I’m going to remind Floyd that anyone that’s great in anything, you must respect them,” said Jones. “Tiger Woods can fight a little bit. Michael Jordan is tough. You know, Kareem Abdul Jabbar is tough. Anybody that’s tough have a certain DNA, so we not gonna take him lightly. This is something that you must train hard for. This is something that you must focus on. Because anyone great can be great in any night, and no matter what type of sport it is, they can be great on any night. And that’s one thing we’re aware of. That’s one thing we’re going to be on top ofs our game about, is being prepared, because anyone who’s great can be great on any night.

“First of all, he’s wiry, he’s a little bit longer than Floyd and I think that he has tremendous punching power. And when someone carries that and is wiry and he’s game, he’s nutsy – he will pull anything off, he will try anything. And them are the type of guys you gotta worry about. This is not a walk in the park for Floyd. We not gonna take our eye off this one. We’re gonna train like we’re fighting Mike Tyson or Pacquiao, you know what I’m saying? Or Alvarez or someone like that. We’re going to work hard because any given time, anybody can hit you with a shot and he’s got tremendous punching power in his MMA fights. He can really, really punch. Anybody can get hit.

“Floyd’s gotta stay on top of his game. We can’t get hit with a shot that’s gonna hurt him. Don’t think it ain’t possible that Floyd can’t get with a shot and then get hurt. And that’s one thing we’re gonna prepare for, that’s one thing we’re gonna be ready for. We gotta be ready for the unexpected. Anything can happen that night.

We’re gonna train hard like we’re fighting Mike Tyson. And one thing we’re gonna be aware of is his punching power. The only thing McGregor – I don’t think McGregor has the skills to outbox Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match, I think McGregor has enough punching power to land a couple of good shots on Floyd and hurt Floyd. And that’s one thing that I’m gonna be concerned with Floyd.

I’m gonna make sure we don’t look at him like an easy walk in the park. Our hands are gonna be up like we’re fighting Mike Tyson, our speed is going to be together like we’re fighting Mike Tyson or we’re fighting Pacquiao.

No matter what no one else says, we’re training like never before because we don’t want us to lose our legacy.

This last remark is telling. Mayweather wants to break Rocky Marciano’s cursed 49-0 record. FMJ took out a trademark on 50-0. It has a ring to it. 49-1, not so much.

The fact remains however that Conor McGregor is not a world-class boxer, never mind someone capable of stopping out the greatest defensive boxer in the sport’s history. Conor’s skills were on display in sparring video vs. Chris Van Heerden. Jones has a theory for why McGregor looked, well, like he looked.

“To me it looked it’s a possibility it could be staged,” he said. “We don’t fall for that. We prepare for anything. Please believe me, I looked at it and I came up with my opinion that it could have been for real but it could have been staged. I don’t know.

“His style is a different style from Floyd. I don’t want nobody messing with Floyd. He may be more difficult than Floyd’s gonna be for him. Styles make fights. He may give him a different look inside this ring when he’s sparring him than what Floyd’s gonna give him. We don’t take none of that light. That’s a different man. That man’s name does not start with Floyd Mayweather, so we’re not worried about that. We’re gonna train hard.

“I looked it and after a while I watched the whole entirety of it, but I know that it could be staged and that don’t mean anything. We’re not gonna take that lightly. That don’t mean nothing to us. I looked at it, but it don’t mean anything. We’re gonna train like never before. I don’t think Floyd looked at it cause he don’t do that. We’re not worried about that, we don’t worry about that. When you look bad, it don’t matter to us because they could be staged. He might get in the ring with somebody else and they could be staged, or it could be him. We’re just going to see what’s going to happen on August 26th when he’s lined up with the very best. We’ll see then.

Retired UFC heavyweight turned podcaster Brendan Schaub has said he will 100 thousand dollars that McGregor wins rounds. However, most feel Mayweather will utterly shut down McGregor. Jones as asked if complete domination is important.

Well, it’s important for us to win the fight,” he replied. “It’s important for us to look as best as we can and it’s important for us to win. That’s the one thing that we’re more concerned of. It could be rough, it could be slaggy, it could be nasty, we don’t know. But we know this, that we’re gonna win.

“And we need to bring boxing, Floyd need to wanna bring boxing back because he’s a promoter, you know, with TMT and he wants TMT to live on with boxing, entertainment, music, movies and he want to get boxing on that stage that it’s been on for all these years. He don’t want it to fade away because I don’t want boxing to die. Any true boxing fan doesn’t want it to die, and it looks like boxing is taking a backseat to MMA and Floyd wanna bring it back.

“And why not fight with McGregor? He’s the best in his sport, Floyd’s the best in his sport, they’re both a contact sport. So Floyd’s gonna fight him in boxing and let’s see what he does. Let’s see if we can bring the right attraction to people. Let’s see if this is going to be a very interesting fight, which I think it will, and let’s see if it brings boxing and MMA to a bigger and higher stage. And that will be perfect.

McGregor’s fighting genius is at time eclipsed by his ability to hype a fight, which against Diaz notoriously extended to throwing bottles.

It’s not gonna rattle Floyd,” said Jones. “As long as he don’t put his hands on Floyd we’re not gonna worry about that. He can do whatever he wants. He can throw a bottle, he can throw a chair, as long as he don’t hit Floyd Mayweather. We’re gonna worry about what happens August 26th. That’s what he needs to worry about.

“Chairs don’t win fights. Bottles don’t win fights. Men do. Boxing gloves and fists win fights. That’s one thing we’re gonna be more worried and concerned about is his inside the ring on the 26th of August. That’s what we’re worried about. We’re not worried about the other stuff.

“He can hoot and holler, he can throw a bottle, he can throw a chair, but he has to worry about the legal process of things that he does. If he throw a bottle and busts someone in the head and busts their head, if it’s Mayweather or anybody else, he has to deal with that, he’s gotta face God with that, he’s gotta face the law with that. We’re not worried about that. We’re gonna go by the book, we’re gonna be ready and we’re going to beat this man.

McGregor’s trash talk is set to kill, while Mayweather is generally a calm presence outside the ring.

“One thing about great fighters, what makes you great is this, you gotta be able to give it and take it,” said Jones. “You gotta be able to give power and take the power. You gotta be able to give speed, you gotta be able to take speed. You gotta be able to give that s*** talking, you gotta be able to back it up. You gotta be able to take the good with the bad, and that’s what greatness is about. If you were swimming through trouble and come out with a win, that’s what the signs of greatness. We know Floyd has that in his DNA.

“We’re not worried about nothing McGregor do even if the fight gets rough for us. We’ve been in a position where we’ve had rough fights and we swam our way to a victory. You know, the Maidana fight was kind of rough, he swam right to a victory, you know what I’m saying? We’ve been through that before and we know what it takes and Floyd know’s what it takes, you know what I’m saying? It’s not how you get here, it’s how you start and how you finish, you know what I’m saying? It’s how you finish.

“And with Floyd, he’s been undefeated because we found a way to win and that’s what we’re gonna do, we’re gonna find a way to win. The smack talking and the what are you gonna do, it won’t have nothing to do with when we put on those gloves and we’ll abide by the rules. If he abide by the rules with Floyd and he come right, it’s gonna be a real interesting fight that we will win.

McGregor will be 29 on August 26. Mayweather is 40. That could be a huge factor in the fight. However, Jones is not concerned.

One thing about Floyd, he take care of his body,” said the coach. “He has a hand specialist, he has a dietician, he has a physical trainer. Floyd take care of himself and Floyd is not dumb. Floyd will slowly prepare himself. Floyd knew he would do this before any of us knew about it. He started taking care of his stuff, doing things, getting prepared for this. So to be great and to be on top of your game like that, you don’t take nothing lightly and you never slack off. And that’s one thing about Floyd that we knew, that he must feel good enough to do it. Because if it’s broke, he’s not gonna try and fix it.

“When it’s over, it’s over, you know what I’m saying? But right now Floyd feels like it’s not over. And Floyd maybe have one, maybe two [more bouts] or this may be it. We’ll know after the fight. We’ll know when everything’s said and done after Floyd talks to me, if he feels confident he’s not gonna put himself in a messed-up position. Cause Floyd’s never seen losing in his style, and if he even felt that way we wouldn’t do it. So it’s up to Floyd. It’s up to him, how his hands feel, how his body feels, how his head feels. That’s on him and I’m gonna support whatever he do. But he’s ready for this fight. I’m gonna support him, and if it’s over, it’s over. If we do one or two more I’m gonna ride with him, you know what I’m saying?

“Now, the day when I see that he’s not what he used to be and he’s still trying to fight, that’s when a friend like me gonna come and say, ‘Look champ, it’s over, baby, it’s over with.’ But Floyd’s not gonna let that happen because Floyd prepares that well and Floyd knows when it’s over, it’s over. And this could be the last time we see Floyd fight. You know, this could be the last time. It’s up to Floyd, he’s very unpredictable. We don’t know, but it could be the last time.

All this talk is about a fight. So how does the coach see the fight playing out?

One way I can see the fight ending is Floyd outboxing him, beating the crap out of him,” said Jones. “Another way I’m gonna be concerned about is when Floyd gets to a point where he frustrates him too much, McGregor’s gonna do something crazy. And that’s one thing I’m worried about. And I hope there’s something in the contract, in the clause, that if he does something stupid that he gonna lose his purse. That’s the only thing I’m worried about.

“Now, can Floyd hit him with a good shot and catch him? Of course he can. Can he catch Floyd and hit him with a good shot and hurt him? Of course I think he can. No one has ever did that. I mean, we’ve seen Sugar Shane Mosely, we seen Chop Chop Corley, we seen Zab Judah hit him with a good shot and Floyd kept going.

“This guy might be a, I think his punching power might be, I think he punches a little bit harder than those guys. That’s my opinion. I would be more concerned about this fight because Floyd’s a little older now. He’s 40 years old, McGregor has crazy weird power and he’s got weird shots from weird angles. I’m worried about that.

“But for my prediction in the fight, is Floyd either confusing him and frustrating him and stopping him in the later rounds or Floyd outboxing him or he doing something stupid and losing the fight. That’s my prediction. I think the fight could be interesting. I think the fight will finish with him, you know, it may go the distance or it may get stopped late in the fight. I think when Floyd gets him with that speed and Floyd’s quickness and his skills I think can be a problem. But with all styles you have to be worried about his power. I think that Floyd wins a good fight. I think if we don’t stop them in eight rounds he wins a good decision.

So is 50-0 it? Will August truly be Mayweather’s retirement fight?I

Well that’s up to Floyd,” said Jones. “We gotta talk to him and see how he feels. I think if he fights, if Floyd fights again after this fight it should be one or two more times, if that. If not – he’s 40 years old – If not, he cool, I’m cool. You know, because he come a long way and he backed up every word he said.

“When I first met him, he was just a loud-talking kid that talked so much smack and it happened to be true. This dude really kept up to his word because losing is not an option for Floyd. Floyd just can’t accept losing in anything – cards, running, spades, basketball games. His will to win is stronger than any man I’ve ever met, and that’s what gets Floyd over the top and that’s what.”

“When that will leaves Floyd and when he know it’s over, when he says it’s over, it’s over. I’m gonna support him when he says he’s ready to do one or two more. I’m gonna support him. If he don’t, I’m cool, I’m happy. 50-0, the best who ever did it, Floyd Mayweather.