Jim Shorts here. Although I have spent many years covering sports, I must admit I do not cover a lot of boxing. Luckily for me, I learned everything I needed to know by watching Rocky IV. In fact, I just watched it again last week. So now I am an expert.
Clearly, Connor McGregor has never seen this how-to video.
McGregor should really be paying attention to that TV.
If there is one thing that I have learned from the 7 1/2 minute training montage in Rocky IV, it is that the song Hearts on Fire by John Cafferty totally sucks.
But I learned so much more about training for a boxing match.
First, if you are an evil communist from Russia, you cheat. You take steroids and use the most advanced space aged machines imaginable.
You also practice punching things super hard.
If you are a pure 38 year old American you earn your physique solely through hard work and by eating your vitamins.
100% natural! Sure it is.
I also learned that the best way to train for a boxing match is by moving to a cold rickety cabin in Russia, growing a beard, skipping rope really fast on a dusty floor, doing inverted abdominal curls, chopping wood, lifting a bag of rocks, doing some more abs of steel, having a dude repeatedly say "no pain" to you, pretend to be an ox, lift a giant wheel barrow filled with your friends and family, run away from the KGB in the snow, climb a mountain and scream the name of your opponent from that mountain top.
Oh and you also punch things super hard.
Perhaps we have come a long way in boxing training since 1984, but I have to believe the idea of punching things super hard is universal and timeless.
Apparently, Connor McGregor disagrees. In the video below, you will see McGregor using a new training technique called "barely hitting the thing you are trying to punch".
Fast forward this video to the 1:00 minute mark to see this amazing technique of "barely hitting the thing you are trying to punch". He's REALLY good at it.
Was he being serious? Was he trolling all of us and Floyd Mayweather?
It's Connor McGregor so it is hard to tell. Anything is possible.
One thing is for certain, on August 28th, Conor McGregor will have $100 million and I won't.
Perhaps I should start trying to barely hit things too.