FLOYD MAYWEATHER did not get dropped in sparring according to his close friend and member of his training team, Nate Jones. Though the former heavyweight did not deny Mayweather had hand problems and admitted the veteran has not trained every day ahead of his August 26 bout with Conor McGregor, Jones rubbished the possibility that anyone would know of an injury should one exist.
โLet me tell you something,โ Jones told Boxing News. โFloyd has a will to win stronger than any man Iโve ever met. If his hand is bothering him youโre not going to know that. Iโve seen Floyd fight and we never knew his hand [was injured] until he took the glove off [after the fight] and his hand would be really swollen. He has high pain tolerance. To do things that Floyd do, the tolerance has to be at a high level. Youโve got to trust and believe me, heโs going to knock this mother f****r out.โ
And according to Jones, who has sparred โ1000 roundsโ with Floyd Mayweather in the 23 years they have known each other, the threat of being completely embarrassed by Conor McGregor on Saturday night has created a focus like he hasnโt seen before.
โIโm going to tell you like this. In all the years Iโve been his friend, Iโve never seen him as focused. You hear all these rumours, โHe got dropped in the gymโ. That didnโt f*****g happen, I swear on the life of my kids. There ainโt no way Floyd is going to lose this fight, heโs the best for the reason. How can he be slipping? Come on. Heโs ready, 100 per cent.โ
When Jones first met Mayweather when they were both young amateurs, the heavyweight had little time for the cocky upstart but he soon discovered why Floyd had so much self belief. Both went onto win medals – Jones (bronze) and Mayweather (also bronze) – while US teammates at the 1996 Olympics.
โI met him in 1994 and I didnโt like him because he was always bragging about how good he was,โ Jones, now 45, remembered. โI was like, โWhoโs this dude whoโs always talkinโ about how good he is?โ I said to him, โI canโt wait to watch you fight after all this talkinโ.โ Then when I seen him fight I bowed to him. โWho the f**k are you?โ He was that good, and thatโs how we met.โ
Jones retired in 2002 with a record of 18-2-1 (9) and was invited by Mayweather to join his training team shortly afterwards. Involved in every major training camp since then, Jones admitted that while certain things were different this time, Mayweather remains as elusive as always.
โWhat we did differently is we didnโt train every day,โ Jones revealed. โYou donโt need to. Youโre 40 years old. Train for two days, then you rest for a day. Youโre 40, you look good. Heโs sparring the whole day and he doesnโt get hit six times. I promise you. All this bulls**t from McGregor, weโre going to annihilate this man. This is not a contest. Heโs truly focused, heโs not going to lose, itโs not possible.
โIโm telling everybody it wonโt be the seventh round. Weโre knocking him out [before the seventh]. Weโre gonna show him some things, he donโt know what heโs getting into. When people fight Floyd, they say heโs different [to other fighters]. He [McGregor] doesnโt know what heโs getting into. He can change in the ring, he will change his body language, heโll make you think heโs going to do one thing, then bang! He hasnโt lost that. Heโs the greatest fighter of all time.โ
At the final Mayweather-McGregor press conference, Jones berated the Irishman from the sidelines which drew a telling off from Floyd.
โItโs my passion for us [Mayweather and I],โ Jones said when asked why he was shouting at McGregor. โWe go back a long way, weโve hung together every single day, before the greatness, before we both made the Olympic team. Iโve sparred him over a 1000 times. We used to spar every single day because most of the guys wouldnโt box him because he was such a freak, so it would just be us two. We have a lot of respect and passion for each other.
โHeโs not going to lose. Donโt believe any stories. Heโs going to win by knockout, you can put a lot of money on that.โ