{"id":42207,"date":"2017-08-22T05:38:41","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T05:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=42207"},"modified":"2017-08-22T05:38:41","modified_gmt":"2017-08-22T05:38:41","slug":"dan-hardy-conor-mcgregor-making-boxing-establishment-face-hard-truths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/sports\/dan-hardy-conor-mcgregor-making-boxing-establishment-face-hard-truths.html","title":{"rendered":"Dan Hardy: Conor McGregor making boxing establishment face some hard truths"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dan Hardy: Conor McGregor making boxing establishment face some hard truths<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

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We are now just days away from boxing going on trial like never before. Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will present the prosecution\u2019s case.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is fitting that in a venue that has been holding events for less than a year, a boxing neophyte could potentially undermine a craft pursued for millennia. All McGregor must do is muster a modicum of competitiveness during his professional debut against the 49-0, five-division world champion, Floyd Mayweather.<\/span><\/p>\n

The disparity in pugilistic pedigree between the pair is so vast and, for that matter, unprecdented at this level, that anything other than the unqualified annihilation of McGregor may be considered an indictment of Mayweather and, by extension, boxing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although they have not explicitly said as much, one can\u2019t help glean the impression this is exactly why a significant portion of the boxing establishment has been so dismissive of McGregor and the bout.<\/span><\/p>\n

UFC color commentator and analyst Dan Hardy, who will fill a similar role for the Sky Sports pay-per-view broadcast of the fight in the United Kingdom and Ireland, believes McGregor sees himself not just in conflict with Mayweather, but the entire boxing industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing that stuck out for me during the press tour is that Conor doesn\u2019t necessarily feel like he\u2019s against Floyd Mayweather in this fight,\u201d Hardy told MMAjunkie. \u201cI think he feels like he\u2019s against boxing, because all the criticism and disrespect that\u2019s coming toward Conor in the buildup to this fight is coming from respected people in the boxing community and people who work for Showtime.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The dynamic between boxing and MMA has tended to veer between suspicion and indifference, perhaps because the latter\u2019s surge in popularity has coincided with the relative demise of the former\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, when Mayweather accepted the gauntlet laid down by McGregor via social media and late-night talk shows, it forced the power brokers in each sport to interact for the first time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Given that Mayweather is hardly beloved in his own circles, Hardy reckons many of his peers will be even less enamored by him for dignifying the Irish upstart\u2019s proposal. However, they\u2019re likely to be willing him on like never before come Saturday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think there is some relief on the boxing side because Conor did decide to call out the biggest name in their sport,\u201d Hardy said. \u201cAs much as the boxing community may hate Floyd Mayweather, and I\u2019m sure hates him even more for putting boxing in this position, they\u2019ll be relieved that he\u2019s still the best boxer on the planet and their representative.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf Conor happens to put him down, he\u2019ll have done what 49 boxers have not been able to do, and that\u2019s a massive hit to boxing in general \u2013 especially given the fact that Mayweather is the greatest defensive boxer we\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But there just might be more to it than that. What if McGregor embodies not only MMA, but an undisputable fact that boxing people are loath to acknowledge?<\/span><\/p>\n

Fittingly enough, Saturday will be just two days prior to the seventh anniversary of UFC 118 and Randy Couture\u2019s facile win over three-weight world boxing champion James Toney.<\/span><\/p>\n

Couture, a former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight kingpin, was selected to fly the MMA flag when Dana White finally granted Toney\u2019s request for a chance to step inside the octagon. It took Couture a little more than three minutes to drag Toney to the mat and apply an arm-triangle choke the boxer barely had the wherewithal to tap to.<\/span><\/p>\n

Given the comparatively modest circumstances, the victory did not induce any tangible paradigm shift in combat sports. But it was nonetheless a brutal demonstration of MMA\u2019s potency in comparison to linear martial arts. This, according to Hardy, is at the root of the vitriol directed at McGregor.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to think that, up until the emergence of mixed martial arts, boxers were fighters,\u201d Hardy said. \u201cIf you were a boxer, you were considered a fighter, but now you\u2019re not. If you\u2019re a boxer, you\u2019re a boxer, but if you\u2019re an MMA practitioner, you are a fighter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a strong difference there, because a lot of people get into boxing for the tough guy aspect, which is kind of diminished now when there\u2019s someone who can kick you in the leg, take you down and strangle you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, Hardy believes MMA has redefined what it means to be a professional unarmed combatant, and the rubric the participants now fall under.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt immediately makes them realize how single-minded they\u2019ve been in their approach,\u201d Hardy said. \u201cNot that that\u2019s a problem, because if you choose to be a boxing specialist, I have no issue with that. But don\u2019t claim to be a fighter when you\u2019re only using your fists, because you\u2019re lying to yourself and everybody else.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On the topic of untruths, the former UFC welterweight title challenger also found Mayweather\u2019s bloviations about facing McGregor under MMA rules to be laughable \u2013 a sentiment he believes the paying public would share.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Floyd\u2019s on the stage saying they can fight in the octagon, with four-ounce gloves, he says it with that tough guy attitude \u2013 but everybody in the arena knows he\u2019s full of (expletive),\u201d Hardy said. \u201cThe general fans, even the boxing fans, whether they\u2019re lying to themselves or not, are educated enough to know the reality without it playing out.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t need to see Floyd step into the octagon and get James Toney-ed, to know that\u2019s exactly what would happen. It\u2019s a foregone conclusion and not even up for question. The only reason people would tune into that is for the satisfaction of seeing Floyd getting his little head squeezed off.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For Hardy, it\u2019s McGregor and his masterfully cultivated persona wading into uncharted and hostile territory that provides the requisite uncertainty to make this seemingly absurd matchup so financially viable \u2013 a collective burning desire to finally resolve what once was a hypothetical notion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a question of what would happen if we take an MMA fighter and put him in with one of the best boxers of all time,\u201d Hardy said. \u201cThat\u2019s the argument in and of itself, because millions of people will buy pay-per-views to see that question be asked and answered. That wouldn\u2019t happen if Floyd Mayweather crossed over into MMA.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source-\u00a0http:\/\/mmajunkie.com\/2017\/08\/dan-hardy-conor-mcgregor-making-boxing-face-hard-truths-floyd-mayweather-ufc-mma<\/span><\/p>\n

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