Conor McGregor said a lot of things during his recent promotional tour with Floyd Mayweather that likely made Mayweather mad. McGregor accused Mayweather of not being able to read. He also accused him of being broke. And on not one but two different occasions, he referred to Mayweather as "boy," which sparked a lot of outrage amongst people and caused many to label McGregor a racist.
But according to Mayweather, none of those things got under his skin. However, there was one comment that McGregor made during the promo tour for their Aug. 26 fight that did rub Mayweather the wrong way, and he spoke about it during an interview with Stephen A. Smith that aired on ESPN on Tuesday night.
During the very first stop on their promo tour in Los Angeles, Mayweather and McGregor did separate interviews with Guillermo from Jimmy Kimmel Live. And while speaking with Guillermo, McGregor was asked if he would win a fight against Sylvester Stallone’s character in Rocky III. McGregor responded by trying to remember which movie Guillermo was referring to, and in the process, he seemed to make a racist remark regarding several black boxers portrayed in the film.
"Rocky III?" McGregor said. "I’m trying to remember which one was Rocky III. Was that the one in the celebrity gym? I can’t remember if that’s the one with the dancing monkeys or not."
The remark didn’t sit well with a lot of people—and apparently, it didn’t sit well with Mayweather, either. He told Stephen A. it was the one comment during the entire promo tour that stood out to him as being blatantly disrespectful.
"I just didn’t like when he called us monkeys," Mayweather said. "I think that was totally disrespect. I didn’t like it. It didn’t push a button to make me jump out of character and go crazy, but I didn’t like it."
Stephen A. asked Mayweather what went through his mind when he heard the comment, and Mayweather alluded to several key figures from the U.S. civil rights movement.
"I just thought about all of our different leaders—Martin Luther King, Malcolm X—that went on the front line for me and my family and all my loved ones," he said. "This stuff still goes on, but I’m strong, smart, patient, and come Aug. 26, I’ll be the same person. The same way he called us monkeys, we’re going to see if he says that Aug. 26."
Mayweather also acknowledged that the comment has made the fight even more important to him than it was before the promo tour. He suggested he’s fighting for more than just the chance to advance to 50-0 for his career.
"This is for a cause," he said. "This is for the American people. This is for all the blacks around the world."
You can watch Mayweather talk about McGregor’s remark in full in the clip above. You can also check out Mayweather’s entire interview with McGregor below:
Outside of talking about McGregor’s remark, Mayweather touched on why he’s going to be in attack mode on Aug. 26, why McGregor has a chance to beat him despite his lack of boxing experience, and more.
