If you know anything about combat sports at all, you were probably watching the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor fight on PPV. Though everyone watching saw the same footage, it seems there are differing views on what went down. I’d like to take the time to put some things in perspective.
Right off the bat, I’ll admit to being biased. I’m a McGregor fan, and I’ve been one since his knockout fight against Siver in 2015. That said, I think I can still make some observations that don’t need to be colored by fandom here.
First off, Mayweather won and nobody can take that away, but my goal is to point out that there are a lot of people playing revisionist with what happened last night.
One major thing that you’ll be hearing about this fight is that Mayweather’s plan went perfectly. You’ll hear that he tired McGregor out and then won easily. This is a half-truth at best. McGregor did fatigue by the end, but it was not by any means a perfect match for Floyd. He did not plan on taking an uppercut to the face, he did not expect McGregor to dodge so many punches, he did not expect to have to be as aggressive as he was, and he did not think that McGregor would land as many jabs. The judges scored the fight so that Mayweather won 2/3 of the first rounds of the fight, but that doesn’t make sense. The man factually did practically nothing but eat punches for the first three rounds.
The other major thing you’ll hear is that McGregor "never stood a chance" and could never win a fight like the one he had. This is also untrue. McGregor lost last night because he was not used to going a full boxing match, but something similar happened with his fight against the heavier Diaz in their first fight, and in the rematch Conor went the distance and won. In this Mayweather match, he lasted until the tenth round against the undefeated champion of the sport- better than what most full-time professional boxers do with a lifetime of experience. He had said champion covering his head and turning around. To say that he could never best Mayweather is dishonest.
What happened happened. It wasn’t ideal for McGregor fans, but he put up an exceptional fight against one of the best and he did not make it easy for Mayweather. I believe he’s done not just the Irish, but all of MMA proud with his performance, and that should not be written off. He walked into the boxing ring and held his own against a champion. I'd like to see a boxer do that in the octagon.
