Floyd Mayweather Jr. looked like a broken shell of himself for the first three rounds. It turns out that was all part of the plan.
Mayweather defeated Conor McGregor via 10th-round TKO in their anticipated prizefight Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, taking over after a slow start to move to 50-0 for his career. It was his first win via knockout since his fourth-round KO of Victor Ortiz in 2011 and just his third in the last decade.
“He’s a lot better than I thought he was,” Mayweather told Showtime’s Jim Gray in the ring.
For at least the early portion of the fight, McGregor certainly was better than anyone expected. He came out aggressive, landing power punches and seemingly confusing Mayweather with his stance switches and unorthodox style. On more than one occasion, Mayweather tucked his head and turned his back to his opponent—something we’d rarely (if ever) seen before.
But Mayweather persisted. He picked up his tempo beginning in the third round and spent much of the latter few rounds landing power punch after power punch against a gassed McGregor.
“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 post-fight (via Mike Bohn of Rolling Stone). “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.”
McGregor, for his part, said he believed the ref was too quick with the stoppage. Mayweather appeared to have McGregor out on his feet and unable to defend himself when the ref called for the bell midway through round 10.
“I thought it was close though and I thought it was a bit of an early stoppage,” McGregor said, via Bohn. “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.”
Mayweather also confirmed—again—that he will not return to a boxing ring.
“This was my last fight tonight,” Mayweather said. “For sure. Tonight was my last fight. Tonight I chose the right dance partner to dance with. Conor you are a hell of a champion.”
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