Floyd Mayweather says training camps have become too hard on his body

When Conor McGregor steps into the boxing ring with Floyd Mayweather on August 26, he’ll be short on advantages. One clear advantage he does have, however, is his age. He’s a relative fresh 28, while Mayweather is now 40 years old.

During the Los Angeles stop of the Mayweather-McGregor world press tour, Mayweather spoke candidly about his age, and how it’s effecting his training. Apparently, training camp is taking its toll on his battered body.

“I’m not the same fighter I was 21 years ago,” Mayweather said (h/t MMAFighting). “I’m not the same fighter I was 10 years ago. I’m not even the same fighter I was two years ago. I understand that but I have that fighter’s mentality. But this will – I spoke to Al [Haymon]. Today we had a meeting and I can’t push my body [anymore]. It’s grueling. Training camp is grueling. I can’t do it anymore. It’s rough. Training camp is rough. I’m just going to the gym, working hard everyday and it’s rough. This has to be my last one.”

“After taking a couple years off, I was okay but then we end up somehow making this fight happen and now I really know that this is it. Deep in my heart, this is it. I can’t.”

Mayweather then explained how he’s altered his approach to training to lessen the toll on his body.

“I’m taking a lot of time off,” he said. “I’m letting my body rejuvenate. Letting my body heal just to make sure that before I go out there to compete, whether it’s in the boxing gym or in that squared circle, I want to make sure that my body is as close to 100 percent as possible so I’ve been letting my body do a lot of resting. I’ve been doing a lot of resting this training camp whereas other training camps I really wasn’t resting as much.”

Do you think Floyd Mayweather’s age will play a factor in his showdown with Conor McGregor?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 7/12/2017.