Irish professional Steve Collins Junior believes Conor McGregor has a "boxing brain" but that his fight against Floyd Mayweather this weekend will be like pitting the world's fastest land animal against a greyhound.
Collins, son of two-weight former world champion Steve, and an emerging pro himself (10-1-1), has sparred with the UFC kingpin and was impressed by his boxing ability.
"I'd be about 20 pounds heavier than Conor but not a bother (to him)," he told RTÉ Sport.
"I found him to be a great mover, an intelligent man. Everything he was doing was calculated and he was very unorthodox.
"He definitely had a boxing brain. His work-ethic was brilliant, he just keeps going. He's very self-motivated."
Nonetheless, Collins is not expecting his fellow Dubliner to pull off a shock on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
"It's the smart money," he said of the widely anticipated Mayweather victory. "It's like putting a greyhound in against a cheetah.
"They're both fast but a cheetah's going to win, isn't he?"
Full of Irish horse power I am going to run you over. pic.twitter.com/NtaczPEnVM
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) August 22, 2017
Mayweather is unbeaten in 49 professional fights while McGregor will be taking part in his first under boxing rules.
Collins believes that the southpaw and his coach John Kavanagh will need to surprise the American tactically to have any prospect of victory.
"You've seen the clips of him shadow-boxing or sparring and he seems to be coming in with a very awkward, unorthodox style," said Collins.
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"That's the type of angle you'll need if you are going to beat Floyd. You can't go in trying to do the same thing everyone else did.
"(Marcos) Maidana came in and tried to rough him up. Lads trying to elbow or doing whatever they can to mess Floyd up... it doesn't work.
"What I'd like to see Conor do is come in with something really different. I'm not saying it's going to work for him but if he is to stand a chance he needs to be thinking along those lines."
It's like a cheetah against a greyhound! Big fight verdict from @stevieCollinsJR https://t.co/XrWtm4koXN
— Darren Frehill (@Darrenfrehill) August 22, 2017
Meanwhile, the son of Steve Collins Senior's old nemesis Chris Eubank, Chris Jnr, has warned McGregor he will face the same Floyd Mayweather who so impressively eased to victory over Manny Pacquiao.
The Briton has spent the past three weeks training alongside Mayweather in preparation for his World Boxing Super Series quarter-final with Turkey's Avni Yildirim in October, doing so for the third time.
"McGregor's got it all to do on the night," said Eubank Jnr. "Mayweather's in just as good a shape as he was against Maidana, and when I watched him train for Pacquiao.
"I don't see any real difference in his preparation, his fitness. He's not taking this lightly. McGregor doesn't have a professional fight but I don't believe that's in Floyd's mind, he's going in there like this is going to be one of his toughest fights."
