On Tuesday night, just hours after a report emerged about how Conor McGregor’s recent sparring session with former world champion Paulie Malignaggi got "out of control," Floyd Mayweather used his various social media accounts to issue a challenge of sorts to McGregor.
Originally, Mayweather and McGregor were both supposed to wear 10-ounce boxing gloves for their match on Aug. 26. That would, in theory, present some difficulties for McGregor, who is used to wearing 4-ounce gloves during UFC fights. But on Tuesday, Mayweather revealed that he would be willing to give McGregor an "advantage" by coming down slightly and wearing 8-ounce gloves in the ring. He also said that he’s open to doing whatever he has to in order to make McGregor feel "more comfortable" boxing so that the two fighters can "give the boxing and MMA fans what they want to see." You can read his entire post here:
McGregor should have been thrilled with Mayweather’s decision to move from 10-ounce to 8-ounce gloves. Lighter gloves would allow him to rely on more of his power in the ring. But early Wednesday, McGregor fired back at Mayweather and said that he doesn’t care what size gloves they ultimately end up wearing. He also took aim at Mayweather’s "brittle hands" in a post he put up on Instagram and said he is "prepared to destroy" Mayweather when they fight:
The fact that Mayweather and McGregor are now going back-and-forth with one another over glove size might seem petty, but this was actually one of the bigger issues during the negotiations for the fight. Because McGregor is used to wearing lighter gloves in the UFC, he fought to have the gloves for the fight be as light as possible, while Mayweather argued that, if McGregor was going to step into his world, he should be prepared to do it in heavier gloves.
But despite what either fighter wants, it sounds like the Nevada Athletic Commission may have the final say as to what size gloves are used for the Mayweather/McGregor fight. According to ESPN, it’s likely that the commission will force the fighters to wear 10-ounce gloves during their match since that’s what they agreed to wear in their original contract for the fight. So all of the most recent trash talk between Mayweather and McGregor might not even matter in the grand scheme of things.
