Floyd Mayweather Jr. says he carried Conor McGregor in the early rounds of their historic boxing match.
Conor McGregor surprised many pundits in his professional boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the mega-money bout this past August.
The UFC lightweight champion took to it to Floyd in the early rounds and looked to be at home in the boxing ring, but it was only a matter of time before ‘Money’ took over and finished the Irishman with a barrage of punches in the 10th round.
Mayweather, who extended his professional record to 50-0, said in the post-fight interview that ‘The Notorious’ did better than he expected, but the pound-for-pound great now claims that he ‘carried’ McGregor to make it interesting for the fans.
“Everybody tried to protest the Mayweather-McGregor fight, right? But I’m gonna tell y’all the truth, I’m gonna tell y’all the truth. You know I carried McGregor. You know I made it look good for y’all,” Mayweather recently told Fight Hype (h/t Jed Meshew of MMA Fighting).
Mayweather, who is considered one of the greatest defensive boxers of all time, is usually on the back foot but the 40-year-old stalked McGregor in the later rounds and hunted for the KO. Mayweather didn’t get the knock down, but referee Robert Byrd was forced to intervene and stop the fight after McGregor took a volley of unanswered shots against the ropes.
Although Mayweather announced his retirement at the post-fight conference, promising fans that the McGregor bout was his last one, it almost seems as if the multi-division champ is testing the waters for a potential rematch.
McGregor, 29, has promised to return to the UFC defend his lightweight title. The sporting megastar recently went at it with featherweight champ Max Holloway on social media, although it’s expected that he’ll fight Tony Ferguson in the new year.