Tag: Game Recap

To many critics, Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s fight with Conor McGregor was a shameless money grab. When the two got into the ring Saturday night in Las Vegas, it turned into much more than that. 

Mayweather ultimately picked up a 10th-round TKO. His precision and boxing experience were simply too much for The Notorious to overcome. But it didn’t come without a fight. McGregor brought the pressure like he said he would throughout the hype. 

In all, the Irishman landed 111 punches as he proved he could hold his own against the best boxer of a generation. 

In the end, both fighters celebrated becoming even more wealthy than they were when the night started:

“We rich” indeed. 

The official numbers will take a while to come out. Pay-per-view sales take time to be calculated, and how the pay-per-view dollars will be distributed hasn’t been made public. However, The Telegraph reports that the Nevada Athletic Commission put the minimum payouts at $100 million for Mayweather and $30 million for McGregor. 

Arash Markazi of ESPN.com reports that buys are expected to at least equal if not surpass the numbers from Mayweather’s bout with Manny Pacquiao. 

That puts the payday for both fighters in an even more exorbitant range. The Mayweather-Pacquiao bout did 4.4 million buys, and Mayweather came away with somewhere between $220 million and $230 million, per Dan Rafael and Darren Rovell of ESPN.com. 

Rovell added some context as to just how bonkers the money involved in this fight was:

At least this time around it felt as though Mayweather and McGregor earned the wild amounts of cash they’ll come away with. While the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight was widely considered a dud, this one had its moments.

Statistically, McGregor had a much better day than Mayweather’s longtime rival:

The Notorious came out in the first few rounds of the fight doing just as he promised throughout the buildup to the fight: Bring the fight to Mayweather. McGregor pressured the boxing legend from the opening bell and even landed some clean shots. 

Showtime Boxing noted right away that he didn’t look out of place in the boxing ring:

The early success came at a price, though. McGregor set a pace that was simply unsustainable. While it helped him make a go of the fight, Mayweather began to open up as the fight continued, and that spelled trouble for the MMA star. 

After four rounds, McGregor‘s output started to fade, and Mayweather’s consistently accurate punching began to take its toll. The Notorious’ fatigue was one of the biggest storylines as the fight progressed, and it ended up costing him. 

The fight was called by referee Robert Byrd in the 10th round after McGregor was stumbling around from unanswered punches and exhaustion. The Notorious wasn’t happy with the stoppage as he chalked it up to simply being tired, not hurt. 

“I thought it was a little early on the stoppage,” McGregor said after the fight, per Mike Bohn of MMAjunkie. “I get a little wobbly when I’m tired. But get me in the corner and I’ll recover and I’ll come back. There’s a lot on the line here—he should have let me keep going until I hit the floor. I was just a little fatigued. He was a lot more composed, especially in the later parts of the fight.”

In the end, the stoppage was probably a foregone conclusion. McGregor was quickly fading and didn’t look any better than he did in the ninth round when Money started teeing off. 

What was important, though, was the McGregor proved he could make it in the sport of boxing. A loss to Mayweather is on plenty of great boxers’ records, and now opportunities abound for him in both sports. 

According to Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting, McGregor replied “of course” when asked if he would be returning to the Octagon. That doesn’t mean we are done seeing him lace up boxing gloves, though. 

“I love the sport of boxing,” McGregor said, per Dave Doyle of MMA Fighting. “Boxing has been dear to my heart my whole, entire life. I will contend in boxing bouts going forward, and I will contend in mixed martial arts bouts going forward. I will rule both with an iron fist, and that’s where my mindset is.”

While Mayweather may be done collecting massive pay checks in combat sports, this is just the beginning of a new level of earning power for McGregor. 

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Floyd Mayweather Jr. accomplished his mission as he took charge of his boxing match with Conor McGregor after a slow start and then punished his opponent convincingly before stopping him in the 10th round Saturday night.

The fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas had captured the public’s attention as the undefeated Mayweather and the MMA champion McGregor were squaring off in a rare cross-sport meeting. Since McGregor agreed to meet Mayweather in a strict Marquess of Queensberry rules boxing match, Mayweather appeared to have the advantage.

Both men blustered before the fight, with McGregor‘s bragging earning him quite a bit of support with the betting public. The excitement level was quite high when the two men stepped in the ring.

Here’s our look at the round-by-round highlights of the fight.

      

Round 1

McGregor starts strong, and he is able to back Mayweather into the ropes on occasion. He uses his straight right jab as both an offensive and defensive weapon, and Mayweather is content to give this round to his opponent as he throws few punches.

        

Round 2

McGregor is again dictating the pace of the round, and his right hand remains a strong defensive force. He is able to keep Mayweather at bay, and it appears that the size differential is working in McGregor‘s favor. Mayweather is a bit busier in the second round than he was in the first, and he throws a few lead right hands.

        

Round 3

McGregor‘s MMA instincts are apparent because he throws a couple of hammerfists at Mayweather. While this is a staple in his sport, it is not a legal blow in boxing, and he is warned about it. Mayweather seems like he is waiting for his opportunity to throw serious punches, but that has not opened up through the third round.

        

Round 4

The tide changes in the fourth round. Mayweather starts the round by backing into the ropes and letting McGregor fire shots, none of which land cleanly. Mayweather lands several clean punches of his own, one coming after McGregor missed with a left hand and Money delivered a right. Mayweather also lands several body blows during the round.

         

Round 5

McGregor starts to lose his form in this round. While his punching power did not cause problems for Mayweather earlier, the MMA fighter’s strikes are weaker at this point. He is swiping at Floyd and not firing brisk punches. Mayweather delivers a combination that starts with an overhand right and then a solid left. McGregor is breathing heavily, and fatigue appears to be a factor for him.

         

Round 6

Mayweather gets turned around, and McGregor launches several punches while Money’s back is turned. Mayweather is upset about this, and he delivers several left-right combinations that get through to McGregor. After Mayweather takes charge in the round, he is content to show off his defensive talent.

         

Round 7

Mayweather has been a strong counterpuncher throughout his career, but he is not using that tactic at this point. Mayweather seems unconcerned by McGregor‘s power, and he is coming straight at his man and hitting him with hard left jabs and a few straight rights. McGregor has little defense for this tactic.

        

Round 8

McGregor throws some punches, but most of them are landing to the back of Mayweather’s head. This is not a legal blow in boxing and is known as a rabbit punch. However, the referee does not stop it. While Mayweather is not hurt, he is annoyed by this practice. Mayweather launches clean right-hand punches that are finding their marks.

        

Round 9

McGregor delivers a right hand at the start of the round and follows with a left hand to the body that is close to the belt line. Mayweather seems to feel it, but he recovers quickly. In the latter half of the round, Mayweather is peppering his man with hard punches, and McGregor‘s mouth is open as he tries to catch his breath. It is quite clear that McGregor is tired.

       

Round 10

Mayweather batters McGregor at the start of the round, and he quickly gets his opponent on the ropes. He is delivering hard lefts and rights, and McGregor is bleeding. McGregor nearly goes down but manages to keep his feet. As Mayweather rains down more punches, the fight is stopped, and Mayweather is the winner via technical knockout.

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Floyd Mayweather saw off the challenge of Conor McGregor in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday night, to retire unbeaten with a career record of 50-0 after a 10th-round TKO at the T-Mobile Arena.

Judge Dave Moretti had the bout scored at 87-83 in Mayweather’s favour when the referee intervened, despite giving the first three rounds to McGregor.

Mayweather was even further ahead according to judge Burt Clements who had the 40-year-old leading by 89-82 while judge Guido Cavalleri’s card was similar, scoring the bout at 89-81.

BBC sports correspondent Richard Conway provided the judges’ scores on the official scorecard for Saturday’s fight:

Perhaps more revealing are the punch stats, which were shared by ESPN’s Arash Markazi:

McGregor started the bout well, as can clearly be seen, and even landed more punches than Mayweather after the first five rounds.

However, as the Irishman began to tire, and Mayweather became more aggressive, the balance began to turn in the older fighter’s favour as he outlanded McGregor by 130-60 in rounds six to 10.

As noted by radio sports host Ben Maller, Mayweather had a far superior success rate of landed punches compared to McGregor:

Mayweather’s output was also far more damaging, as he continued to land power shots as the fight progressed, per Maller again:

McGregor, despite his best efforts, failed to land the kind of shot that would rock Mayweather as he continued to move forward.

However, there is one statistic that McGregor will enjoy reading—he did manage to land more punches on Mayweather than Manny Pacquiao did in 2015, as noted by sports writer Darragh Murphy:

 

It’s perhaps little surprise Mayweather dominated the punch stats, particularly against McGregor in his first professional boxing outing, but the numbers simply confirm that Saturday’s scorecards were spot on.

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Floyd Mayweather Jr. used greater stamina and superior punching power to stop Conor McGregor in the 10th round and win by technical knockout at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday.

The bout was stopped with Mayweather teeing off on the visibly exhausted 29-year-old star of the UFC. Brian Campbell of CBS Sports showed how the bout was scored at the time:

Mayweather made the fight one-sided thanks to a simple gameplan focused on wearing McGregor down by forcing him into a lengthy test of endurance. Afterwards, “Money” spelled out his simple yet effective strategy, per ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael:

“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. 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.”

Even early on, McGregor seemed to struggle with lasting the pace. He was quick off the mark during the opening two rounds but didn’t make the most of the clean punches he managed to land.

Instead, Mayweather bided his time and steadily grew into the fight. His willingness to work the body through rounds three to five and knock the wind out of McGregor proved a key part of his plan to exploit the Irishman’s lack of stamina.

Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com felt it was a worrying sign to see McGregor sagging so early:

It was a sentiment also expressed one round later by Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com:

Mayweather picked his moments and his punches well, correctly sensing the time was ripe to up the pace in Round 7. His array of jabs to the body and face left McGregor bloodied and wheezing as the bell sounded.

From this point, Mayweather was never in any trouble, and it was just a matter of time before he finished a tiring McGregor off. Mayweather was content to stick and move during the eighth, probably knowing he had a sizeable advantage in points to lean on.

He turned up the heat further in the ninth, with McGregor barely escaping the round still in the fight but still looking gassed, per Helwani:

Referee Robert Byrd rightly called a stop to things in the 10th, with a lethargic McGregor pinned against the ropes and open to a relentless barrage of punches. The wilting state of McGregor at the time of the stoppage vindicated Mayweather’s strategy to draw the fight out and prolong the punishment.

It was a logical approach, since McGregor’s days in the UFC had hardly prepared him for this lengthy a bout. In fact, numbers from ESPN Stats & Info show how the Irishman had been used to making much quicker work of his recent opponents in the Octagon:

Mayweather had boxed a smart fight against an opponent lacking his ring savvy. Yet his victory wasn’t just down to superior conditioning.

The man who ended the night 50-0 for his career also landed the more powerful punches, even after McGregor had come out swinging to start.

McGregor landed some strong shots early, including a formidable uppercut and several stinging right-handed jabs. In total, the Irishman landed more shots on Mayweather than many decorated boxing greats had managed, per SportsCenter:

The problem for McGregor was most of his punches lacked power after the early stages, once he notably began to tire. By contrast, Mayweather’s hitting power grew as the fight wore on.

He landed more of the telling shots as he found his rhythm during the bout:

In the end, Mayweather had made wise use of the experience accrued during his previous 49 professional fights. He dictated the pace, ensuring he would exploit McGregor’s suspect endurance, while also making more efficient use of his punches to land the more damaging blows when it counted.

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