Getty Conor McGregor stands in his corner during his super welterweight boxing match against Floyd Mayweather Jr. on August 26, 2017 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Before their massive boxing match in 2017, UFC superstar Conor “Notorious” McGregor attempted to poach one of Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr.’s trainers, Nate Jones revealed. Jones, a former boxer, has worked as Money’s trainer since 2002, according to The Sun.
Jones and Mayweather were US Olympic teammates in 1996, and they have been friends since 1994 when they met at the USA national championships, Fox Sports reported.
In an interview on the outlet’s Rocky Road: Rewind podcast, and transcribed by The Sun, Jones said, “I got a call from Montell Griffin and he said, ‘people want to holler at you Nate, they’re McGregor’s people’.
Jones said, “And they called and I’m like, ‘what’s up?’ They was like, ‘man, [Conor McGregor’s] interested in you being in the corner. We’ll pay you [$1.5 million] – whatever you want, mention what you want’. And I hung up.”
The trainer said that he wasn’t tempted by the deal because he was loyal to Mayweather. Jones continued, “Montell Griffin called me back and said, ‘Nate you big dummy, what the f**k is wrong with you, man?’”
The trainer continued, “I said, ‘what?’ He said, ‘this is about your life, your career, make a better move for yourself Nate!’”
He continued, “I said, ‘nah, I’m not disloyal like that. Montell, I don’t do things like that, that’s my friend.'”
Jones continued, “He said, ‘you’ve got to be one of the dumbest dudes ever, man’. And he hung up on me.” According to Jones, Money doesn’t know that McGregor’s team reached out to him.
As history has it, McGregor and Mayweather boxed on August 26, 2017. It was Notorious’ boxing debut and he was able to make it to the tenth round against the boxing legend before being stopped.
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Jones Said McGregor Looked ‘Shook’ Before His Match With Mayweather
When he was backstage and Mayweather and McGregor were preparing to box, Jones said he noticed that McGregor was very nervous. On the Rocky Road: Rewind podcast, Jones said (as transcribed by The Sun):
I was the guy, when Floyd wrapped his hands they sent someone to watch us to make sure he wasn’t doing anything illegal, and vice versa. When McGregor wrapped his hands, we sent a representative which was me. I sat there and watched McGregor get his hands wrapped. And I’ve never seen someone so nervous in my life. That’s the part of the fight that shocked me the most because going into the fight, McGregor was talking a lot of smack. In the locker room getting ready to fight, he was very shook. He went to the washing room six times. Six times. I was like, ‘what is wrong with this dude?’ He was very shook for that fight.
Jones Was Worried About the ‘Unknown’ Because McGregor Hadn’t Boxed Before
On the podcast, Jones said that since Notorious hadn’t boxed before, he was worried about the unknown. He also said that he was worried about McGregor’s size advantage.
Jones said, “I was worried about that but we handled him well, we chopped him down and stopped him.”
That match was both McGregor and Mayweather’s last boxing bout. Notorious went back to mixed martial arts after the match, and Money hasn’t competed professionally since.
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