‘I’m Conor McGregor’s first boxing coach – star mastered key skill straightaway’
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Conor McGregor knew how to read a punch that comes at him straightaway.
That’s according to the UFC star’s first boxing coach Philip Sutcliffe Sr, who McGregor recently gifted a custom truck. Sutcliffe coached McGregor at the famous Crumlin Amateur Boxing Club in Dublin with the Notorious joining as a boy.
And speaking at McGregor’s Black Forge Inn, Sutcliffe opened up on the impact McGregor immediately made on him when joining the club.
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"Conor mastered the ability of reading, reading the shot that comes at you,” two-time Olympian Sutcliffe said. “He always mastered that, from an early age of 12 he could avoid a shot. He could move comfortably in the ring – this is where he gets his movement from.
"He had a lot of talent as a youngster, but he was putting it in different directions. But his boxing talent… you see in his MMA fights with his backhands.
"I was never fond of mixed martial arts, I thought it was barbaric before I got involved but you see the amount of work these boys put into it, the amount of dedication.”
McGregor turned his attention from boxing to MMA at a young age and became a two-weight UFC champion during his career. He did go on to step into the boxing ring, ultimately losing to Floyd Mayweather in a mega-money bout.
Though Sutcliffe admits he could never have foreseen the supersonic rise from the now 35-year-old.
"Realistically no,” he added. “I didn't follow it. All the other kids said it, others said he's going to be great.
“He had bus loads following him as an amateur MMA guy. There had to be something special there.
“He has that charisma. No matter what he touches, it turns to gold. He's outspoken, his mind is right, he’s smart.”
And that charisma was spotted by Sutcliffe the moment McGregor walked into his gym.
"Course I remember,” Sutcliffe said of his first memories of the Notorious. “When he walked in, I told him he had to take his boots off.
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“He was playing football against Crumlin United. He was a little blonde kid, good looking kid, but he had his football boots on. You don't walk on the floor with your football boots full of mud, so we told him to take them off.
“He started punching the bags. I said if you want to join, get your ma and da down. You have to fill in a form and apply.”
The rest, as they say, is history.
- Conor Mcgregor
- Boxing
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