my money is on mcgregor. floyd is coming out of retirment and hes 40 years old. you heard it here first. mcgregor for the win.
Mayweather is the overwhelming favorite given his vast boxing experience, but the amount of people saying McGregor has exactly 0% chance is insane. This isn't some bum off the street - this is a professional fighter and an elite level striker. Anything can happen in a fight, and a single shot can change everything. Again, Mayweather is the overwhelming favorite, and rightfully so, but there are a few things that favor Conor.
1. Mayweather is 40; McGregor is 29.
2. Mayweather hasn't been active in 2 years
3. McGregor has a good amount of size on him - height, reach, weight, strength, power, are all on his side
4. McGregor has one shot knockout power in each hand, and impeccable timing.
5. McGregor has unorthodox movement, even in MMA. Many of his opponents have said this makes it difficult to figure him out. This is going to be an even bigger factor inside the boxing ring, since Mayweather hasn't seen anything like it, and it will take him a few rounds to figure it out and process it.
6. This last point is more of an intangible attribute, but McGregor has excelled as an underdog throughout his career, and his confidence has been unshakeable. The spotlight will certainly not get to him. Meanwhile, the pressure is all on Floyd, who is expected to dominate every single minute of every single round and to KO him. However, that's not his style, and he no longer has the hands to KO anyone, especially a bigger guy.
I think McGregor's gameplan is going to involve giving Floyd different looks and utilize a lot of different stances, which Mayweather has never seen before. His entry is a lot different than that of any boxer's, and he'll be attacking Floyd from different angles than he's used to. He'll also be looking to clinch a lot (this is where McGregor's grappling experience will come in handy) and use a lot of dirty boxing. He'll do a lot of Maidana did with some success against Floyd, except McGregor is bigger and stronger than Maidana.
It will also be interesting to see if McGregor's power can break Mayweather's guard. Even a partially blocked shot might be able to do some damage.