By Elias Cepeda

Coach Jason Parillo knows I'm not a fan of this weekend's Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor boxing match. Why?
 
Pick a reason: There is the fact that the Association of Ringside Physicians is opposed to a 0-0 boxer fighting a 49-0 because it is a clearly unsafe situation. I don't know if the fight even meets state and federal legal muster, and I don't like much of the racist and homophobic speech that has been used to sell the fight.
 
Yet, it appears as though Saturday's fight in Las Vegas will certainly still happen. So, as much as I've written about all the above issues and others, it's time to turn my attention to the only other fascinating thing about this or any fight -- the actual matchup.
 
For help with that, I turned to Parillo -- one of the foremost striking experts in the game. The former professional boxer has had a great deal of success coaching boxers and perhaps even more coaching MMA fighters on boxing.
 
Parillo can count MMA world champions like Cris "Cyborg" Justino, Michael Bisping, Tito Ortiz, BJ Penn, Vitor Belfort, and other notable fighters among his students, past and present, and so there are few people with a better understanding of how well MMA fighters can box than the RVCA Gym coach. First, Parillo isn't as militant in opposition to the fight as I am, and makes a point of saying so.
 
In the end, he says, it's always interesting to see two guys fight.

"As far as the circus act of it all, obviously you're not a big fan of it. It doesn't bother me one bit," he says.

"I actually kind of like it (laughs). It's entertaining. Being an ex-boxer, loving boxing, boxing is how I make my living in MMA. I've always wanted to see a high-level MMA guy cross over, put on the gloves, and do a boxing match."


Photo Credit: © Steve Flynn-USA TODAY Sports

Just because Parillo is interested in Mayweather vs. McGregor, it doesn't mean he expects it to be a close or even boxing match. The first, and perhaps most important, reason for that to the coach is the simple fact that Mayweather has a mountain of overall fight experience compared to what the much younger McGregor has in his career thus far.

As far as boxing goes, Mayweather has a lifetime of elite boxing training and competition compared to essentially no real time at all ever focused on boxing for the Irish mixed martial artist.

"I expect that there's too much experience on one side -- obviously that being Floyd's side," Parillo reasons. "There's just too much experience on Mayweather's side. There's a lot of propaganda going on in the social media world and the media world to try and bring the odds closer, and I get that. But Mayweather has too much experience."

Not only does Parillo see Mayweather being able to outbox and beat McGregor on Saturday, but the coach also expects "Pretty Boy Floyd" to stop McGregor inside of the scheduled 12 rounds.


Photo Credit: © Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

"I see Floyd stopping him," Parillo continues. "I think Floyd's putting some pressure on himself. He knows that he's a 12-round fighter, usually, over the last handful of years. I think he knows that he has to put McGregor out.

"That doesn't mean that I think he'll get caught up in a slugfest. He's a pretty bright fighter and has control over his emotions -- except for when he fought and knocked out Victor Ortiz after being head-butted, but even that was done really craftily and tactically."

Parillo understands that, strictly speaking, any type of fight is unpredictable. It's also fun to let the mind wander to improbable hypothetical outcomes that see McGregor scoring one more impressive and unexpected upset, this time in the boxing ring.

Still, Parillo doesn't believe that even McGregor's one apparent advantage in the fight -- his youth -- will end up actually being one when it comes to speed and conditioning. For all of Mayweather's flash, excesses, and abuses, Parillo says he has never heard on good authority that Mayweather has ever let anything stand in the way of his staying in shape, disciplined, and hungry when it comes to boxing.

"The 'what-ifs' would be a little bit bigger if we weren't talking about Floyd Mayweather. Let me tell you why," Parillo begins.

"There are plenty of fighters who are 40 years old, past their primes, made millions of dollars. In his case, he's made hundreds of millions of dollars. A lot of those fighters fall off. They forget about who they are as a fighter. They forget about where they came from. They've got money now. And there's that quote -- It's hard to go train when you're sleeping in silk sheets.

"But that's not Mayweather. This guy lives clean. Yes, he likes strippers and gambling -- God bless him -- but the guy, as far as I understand, has stayed true to the game his entire life. I don't see him going out and being shot. He might be a tad slower, maybe, but I don't think so. The guy's got some genetics. You look at the video of his old man hitting the heavy bag the other day. The man is 60 years old, and he's still got speed in those hands. There's something to be said for that."


Photo Credit: © Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

To that end, Parillo doesn't necessarily even think that Mayweather will have to wear down McGregor and take him to deep waters, late in the fight, in order to stop the UFC champ. Parillo thinks that superior boxing technique will prevail in the boxing match, even to devastating levels.

"I don't see Mayweather having to wait until later rounds to break him down," he reasoned. "I see him being able to sharp-shoot him out of there a little sooner."

Parillo also doesn't make much of the notion that McGregor -- an agile and multi-faceted fighter -- will be able to throw Mayweather off with the types of stance-switches, hand-dropping, and dance feints that he's often showed in MMA fights. Parillo points out that many of McGregor's distractions and setups in MMA, a lot of his unorthodox movement, only work in the freestyle fighting world because he has so many more weapons to threaten with in that environment.

Under boxing's much more limited rule set, Parillo believes that much of McGregor's movement will just be empty threats and so won't be effective feints or deterrents.

"You can mess around with those crazy angles, especially when there's the threat of other things -- leg kicks, head kicks, takedowns," Parillo says. "Doing crazy movements and things that McGregor usually does in a boxing match, however, will be like waving a gun with no bullets in it."


Photo Credit: © Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Parillo doesn't see Mayweather biting on any funky non-boxing movements or feints from McGregor. Furthermore, the coach points out that McGregor will find himself in unfamiliar situations and punching range come fight night.

"Mayweather doesn't give a shit. Run around. Switch your stance. People don't switch their stances all quick like that in boxing. They're in too close of quarters. It doesn't work that way," he explains.

"That was one of the things I learned about MMA right away when I started getting involved, years ago -- there's such a difference in the distance. You can get away with a lot more shit in MMA because of the distance. That's why you can do all that showcasing, showboating, fancy footwork, bending, breaking, and the whole nine yards."

Parillo has two more points that he believes many are overlooking: 1) McGregor may be fast, but he's not faster than Mayweather has shown himself to be over the years, or any faster than many of the men the all-time great has faced and bested before. 2) If you manage to connect, clean, with a power shot on Mayweather, he's shown that he has the chops to take hard shots from bigger punchers than McGregor.


Photo Credit: © Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

"It's all about reflexes, and Mayweather has reflexes of a cat, and instincts. He sees what's going on in there. You've got to have a tremendous amount of speed in there. I know Conor McGregor is quick. Yeah, he's fast," Parillo allows.

"Let me tell you something -- Floyd Mayweather has been in there with the fastest dudes out there. These dudes have tremendous speed -- speed you don't see. Conor is a fast white boy, don't get me wrong, but then there's next-level speed, and Mayweather has been in front of it -- and been hit by it, too."

As for Mayweather's ability to take a big punch and keep on going, Parillo says it is a proven commodity.

"He's got a hell of a chin, too," he concludes. "That's what people fail to realize -- Mayweather has been hit for many, many years by hell of hard punchers, and everyone has to search through 49 fights for glimpses of when he's been hurt. He's got hours of fights against the highest-level fighters on the planet, the biggest punchers on the planet, and you have to scrape to find moments where he's been rocked."

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