Mayweather responds to “McGregor KO’d in sparring” rumours

Rumours that Conor McGregor was sparked during sparing sparked social media into life of late.

The Dublin light middleweight is in training for his pro debut, where he takes on five-weight champ Floyd Mayweather [49(26)-0] in Las Vegas on Saturday August 26th, and talk that McGregor had been knocked out in sparring has recently done the rounds.

“This kid got knocked out in sparring already, man!”

“The boxing world is small, it’s a small circle,” claimed former WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas, as he suggested the Irishman’s preparations for the his unprecedented clash with Mayweather were not going to plan.

As the interview with Vargas had been done alongside Brandon Rios, many misconstrued the comments to have been suggesting it was ‘Bam Bam’ that put down ‘The Notorious,’ and even further confusion led to some claiming it was mixed martial artist Brandon Wheeler who put McGregor to the canvas.

Both Rios and Team McGregor have moved to quash the rumour, with the Mexican-American – whose style is polar opposite to Mayweather’s – claiming he had never even met the Irish fighter, nevermind sparred him.

“The world’s gone crazy,” said Rios. “My phone’s been blowing up. I’ve been getting texts messages and calls about this. I’ve never met McGregor, and I don’t know who he is.”

40 year old Mayweather isn’t one for sparring rumours, and famously ensures his own are kept off-camera, doesn’t buy into the claims from a fighter he wants to create a promotional link with.

“My take is, if I ain’t seen no footage, I don’t believe it,” the American told FightHype.com.

“We’re working on Vargas to sign with Mayweather Promotions, so we’ve been communicating.”

“But everything is just rumours until I see it. I have to physically see [the knockout] with my own eyes,” he added.

Most scoffed Vargas’s claims, noting that McGregor was still, at the time, training in Dublin and that his sparring partners had signed non-disclosure agreements.

McGregor has since relocated to Lad Vegas to round out his camp ahead of the T-Mobile Arena-hosted clash, bringing with him Tiernan Bradley, Dashon Johnson, and Louis Adolphe, all of whom were part of the Dublin camp.

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