It wasn’t as easy as it was supposed to be, but in the end Floyd Mayweather still moved his record to the anticipated 50-0. After a slow start, Floyd Mayweather rallied in the ninth and tenth round to badly batter McGregor until Robert Byrd was forced to intervene in what was a good stoppage.
This fight did not start according to plan. Floyd “Money” Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) clearly lost the first three, probably four rounds of the fight. Conor McGregor (0-1) was able to time Floyd coming in while Floyd just looked old. He came forward somewhat recklessly behind his guard while McGregor was able to pick at him. Surprisingly even McGregor’s jab was working for him.
Things started to shift in about the eighth round. Suddenly the lead rights started popping McGregor’s head back and left hooks started to follow. Conor still fought well in that round, but in the ninth he really started to struggle with his stamina. In the tenth it all fell apart. McGregor was staggering around the ring, reeling from shot after shot. Robert Byrd was eventually forced to intervene as McGregor was barely able to hold himself up. It was a good stoppage by the standards of boxing.
I don’t know if it was just a coincidence in terms of what the pace of this fight did to him in particular, but McGregor basically died in the ring at twenty five minutes into the contest. This is the length of an MMA title fight. After the fight Mayweather claimed that was part of the gameplan, that they just needed to draw him longer than he had been. Whether this was really the case or 40 year old legs were simply limited in terms of what they could do, it worked out in the end for Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Post fight Mayweather confirmed he would be retiring and admitted that McGregor brought more to the table than he expected. I think we can all agree with that. Conor’s take was that he thought he was doing well and wished Robert Byrd had let him go longer. That is easy to sympathize with, but I do think the stoppage was more than fair in order to protect the Irishman. Also, in terms of Byrd, he was very lenient overall for the MMA champion. Hammer fists to the top of the head, repeated shots to the back of the head, and shots on the break could have resulted in point deductions, but Byrd just let it all go.
Above all, this was a good fight. Basically no one in the boxing media, myself included, thought that was likely to be the case. Bravo to Conor McGregor for that, Floyd Mayweather too. It is clear that at 40 Mayweather is done as a top fighter, but at least that was a fun and successful way to go out.
