Floyd Mayweather earned a 50th career win and reportedly nine figures worth of money Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Money defeated Conor McGregor at the T-Mobile Arena via a 10th-round technical knockout to push his sparkling career record to 50-0. He also surpassed the great Rocky Marciano, who went 49-0 during his tenure in the ring.
Mayweather garnered much more than bragging rights, though, as Dan Rafael of ESPN.com noted the Nevada State Athletic Commission released contract figures Friday saying Money notched a guaranteed purse of $100 million.
According to Rafael, McGregor’s minimum purse was $30 million.
However, the paydays didn’t stop there. Rafael explained each fighter earns a share of the promotion and said McGregor’s take home was “likely to exceed $100 million,” while Mayweather was staring at “another payday well in excess of $200 million” after he made approximately $250 million in his 2015 fight against Manny Pacquiao.
Both of them earned their money during an entertaining fight that featured a number of momentum swings.
Despite a lack of experience, McGregor appeared to be the better boxer in his first professional boxing match during the opening few rounds. He even landed a noteworthy uppercut on Money to seize early momentum, although fatigue became an issue for someone not accustomed to fighting in 12-round battles.
“I thought it was close though, and I thought it was a bit of an early stoppage,” he said after the fight, via Arash Markazi of ESPN. “I was just a little fatigued. He was just a lot more composed with his shots.”
Once the fatigue set in, the technically brilliant Mayweather took over and dominated the final few rounds. He was aggressive with his jabs and took the fight to McGregor so much in the 10th the official had to stop it and declare him the victor.
The statistics bore out the change of momentum. Markazi shared the CompuBox numbers, noting “Mayweather outlanded McGregor 130-60 in rounds six [through] 10 after McGregor had a 51-40 edge in landed punches in [the] first five rounds”:
Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports praised McGregor for holding his own in an unfamiliar arena against an all-time great:
It is natural to wonder about a rematch after the MMA fighter was fairly impressive against the career boxer, but McGregor said “of course” when asked if he would return to UFC, via Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting.
Mayweather also said to the crowd “this was my last fight, ladies and gentleman,” via Markazi.
Doubters will be quick to point out the last time he retired he didn’t stick to his word, which is why Saturday’s fight was possible. However, there was the potential to go 50-0 dangling right in front of him, and he ultimately returned and didn’t miss his chance.
There was also the hefty payday waiting to be had.
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