If Conor McGregor comes up short against Floyd Mayweather in their junior middleweight fight on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena, it won’t be for lack of support. Thousands of Irish fans have descended on the Las Vegas strip
Paul Kariya Jersey to support their countryman as he looks to spring an upset that would surely rate among the greatest in the history of the prize ring. Inside Conor McGregor’s Dublin: the making of the fighter taking on Mayweather Read more Their presence can be crudely quantified by the prices at the sports books around town, which have shortened over the course of the week to roughly 3-1, exceedingly charitable odds for a novice boxer making his professional debut against a five-division champion who is unbeaten in 49 paying fights. But it’s been even more palpable on the strip, which has become a blur of emerald soccer, rugby union and Gaelic football jerseys. They were carousing from dawn on Friday in the casinos and at the swanky outdoor watering holes beneath a cloudless sky on the way to the T-Mobile Arena, double-fisting beers and frozen drinks, singing songs and brimming with confidence as bright as the August sun. Among them were Dillon Barnes, Bob Neville and Gibo MacDermott, who were sucking down beers outside the T-Mobile Arena several hours before Friday’s weigh-in, wearing matching kelly-green suits festooned with shamrocks. Neville even remembered to wear a dress shirtAll three came over from the Dublin suburb of Crumlin that produced McGregor and spoke with pride of how they knew the two-division UFC champion from the early days. MacDermott, 35, said he used to work as a plumber with McGregor, while Barnes and Neville, both in their late 20s, said they played on the same soccer team with him. “I was up front, scoring goals: boom, boom, boom!” Neville recalled in animated detail. “Conor was just defending, knocking people out.” Like many McGregor supporters who traveled from abroad, the trio were struggling to score tickets for the fight, which
http://www.authenticducksstore.com/sami-vatanen-jersey_c-433.html were still hovering around $1,300 apiece on the secondary market on Saturday morningDarren and Gráinne O’Mahony had no such problem. The husband and wife from Limerick, who arrived on Thursday for a four-night stay at the Golden Nugget downtown, jumped on a pair of seats immediately when they went on sale. “The tickets were costly,” Gráinne said with a cheerful grin. “We’ll probably have to starve for a couple of months but it was worth it. “We’re here for Conor because we know he’s going to do it and we’re here to celebrate afterwards. I couldn’t get off work but I told them I have to get it off, I have to come here to support him.” We’re here for Conor because we know he’s going to do it Gráinne O’Mahony, fan from Limerick Darren was in the stands at Neptune Stadium in Cork seven years ago when McGregor was submitted by Joe Duffy in one of his first MMA bouts. That setback feels like a far-off memory, he said, and he has no doubt that McGregor will shock the pundits on Saturday night. “We wouldn’t be here otherwise,” he said. Their confidence was matched by Jennifer Fitzpatrick, a 22-year-old from Dublin temporarily in San Diego on a student visa. “McGregor, 100%,” said Fitzpatrick, clad in an orange sports bra and Irish flag. “I think it will go on for a while, but eventually he’ll get to himEoin Ryan, 21, who arrived Saturday from Clonakilty in Cork with four of his friends, was a bit more tempered in his optimism. “My head says Mayweather, my heart says McGregor,” he said between pulls from a Four Loko tall boy. “If [Conor] hits him with one, he might finish him. I’m just here for a good time.” Ryan’s group only had tickets for the weigh-in, which were distributed for free to the public but being hawked by scalpers outside for $50 to $75. “We’re here on vacation and we happened to be here for the fight by chance,” Ryan said. “Just soaking in the atmosphere and the sun, having a good time.” Screaming Conor McGregor ridicules Floyd Mayweather at weigh-in Read more Mayweather was born in the midwest but for nearly all his adult life his home has been Las Vegas, the desert town of 600,000 souls whose excess and chaos and seductive mythology he’s come to embody. His last 14 fights have taken place here, even if the crowd support has seldom reflected a hometown advantage due to the villainous persona he willingly embraces. The atmosphere for Saturday’s fight will be no exception if Friday’s weigh-in was any indication. The well-lubricated
http://www.officialblazershop.com/authentic-1-evan-turner-jersey.html masses screamed frantically for McGregor the moment he emerged from the back of the arena and were sent into hysterics when the Irishman screamed in Mayweather’s face during the tradition staredown. “There’s a saying: you’ll never beat the Irish,” McGregor said afterward over the arena’s PA system. “You can’t beat us. We roll in and we take over wherever we want. “Las Vegas is Ireland now
