For the first three rounds, Conor McGregor looked like he belonged. By the end, the numbers paint the picture of a typical Floyd Mayweather fight—just with a different result.
Mayweather recorded a 10th-round TKO of Conor McGregor in their prizefight Saturday, just his third knockout in the last decade. Referee Robert Byrd announced a stoppage with McGregor staggering on his feet midway through the round, though the UFC legend-in-the-making disagreed with the decision.
“I thought it was close though and I thought it was a bit of an early stoppage,” McGregor said after the bout (h/t Mike Bohn of Rolling Stone). “I was just a little fatigued. He was just a lot more composed with his shots. … When you’re in here in the squared circle, everything is different. Let the man put me down, that’s fatigue, that’s not damage.”
McGregor, even if the fight were to continue, had no chance of winning. Mayweather was up 87-83, 89-82, 89-81 on the three scorecards when he scored the knockout. Unless McGregor hit Mayweather with a knockout of his own—unlikely given the relative weakness with which his late-round punches were landing—he was going to lose regardless.
Mayweather said the early-round woes were all part of his gameplan. No doubt one of the smartest boxing minds ever to step in a ring, Mayweather said his strategy was to wear McGregor down early and then take advantage of his over-aggressive tendencies.
“Our game plan was to take our time, go to him, let him shoot his shots early and then take him out down the stretch,” Mayweather said, via Bohn. “We know in MMA he fights for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, he started to slow down. I guaranteed to everybody that this wouldn’t go the distance.”
If this is indeed Mayweather’s last fight—and he confirmed once more after the bout that it is—that’s probably for the best. Fighting an inexperienced star like McGregor was his best bet at looking peak-Mayweatherish, and he struggled to do so for part of the bout.
McGregor’s unorthodox style had Mayweather ducking and protecting, and his quickness seemingly only came back once his opponent started to slow down. Put Mayweather in the ring with Canelo Alvarez or Gennady Golovkin, it’s hard to see him winning after what we saw Saturday.
While the CompuBox stats look bad for McGregor, he still managed to land more punches than Manny Pacquiao against Mayweather in two fewer rounds. Here is a look at how things played out via the CompuBox scores:
CompuBox Stats
Total Punches Landed
Mayweather 170/320 (53 percent)
McGregor 111/430 (26 percent)
Jabs
Mayweather 19/58 (31 percent)
McGregor 27/98 (28 percent)
Power Punches
Mayweather 152/261 (58 percent)
McGregor 84/332 (25 percent)
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