Boxing commentator and sports personality Max Kellerman recently offered a statement concerning Conor McGregor.
Initially not confident in the UFC champion’s abilities inside a boxing ring, it would appear that Kellerman has altered his opinion on the fighter after his TKO loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
As transcribed by Boxing Scene, Max Kellerman offered the following message on the sports talk show First Take.
“I want to start out by saying Conor McGregor deserves enormous credit. He is an exceptional fighter, an exceptional fighter. Even among champions he stands out. And what stood out to me for Conor the boxer……. first of all he is making his pro debut against one of the best fighters ever. I’m going to get to the age thing in a second, and he’s, early on, doing enough to stay in the fight. That’s amazing. Even the fact that he went ten rounds in his pro debut is amazing,” Kellerman said on First Take.
“And how is he able to have any success at all? He is not only incredibly determined with a huge heart and athletic. By the way, when you see one fighter get around another fighter as Conor did to Floyd and actually step behind him, that means his feet are faster, it means he’s younger, or at least more athletic – that’s a huge thing. Conor is athletic, energetic, determined, his preparation is clearly there, but more than anything Stephen A. – it’s his fighting brain.
“Conor McGregor, as most great fighters have, has an extremely high fighting IQ. It’s the reason that he didn’t really hit Mayweather with anything hard. He didn’t load up on any punches, he had the uppercut in the first round. I know I said that he would not even lay a glove on Mayweather, not a clean punch, and I have a lot of people on Twitter saying he landed 111 punches – no he didn’t. But Conor did land about ten or a dozen punches over the course of ten rounds, which is actually more than most fighters land cleanly against Mayweather.”
