Floyd Mayweather finishes Conor McGregor by TKO after back and forth battle
As it turns out, ‘The Money Fight’ lived up to expectations.
For the past few months, Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor have been forced to defend their fight that pit one of the greatest boxers of all time against a UFC champion who was stepping into the ring for the first time in his career.
On paper it appeared to be a mismatch.
Mayweather has been regarded as a defensive mastermind, who has picked apart every top opponent he’s faced throughout his career. Meanwhile, McGregor was a superstar and one of the best mixed martial artists on the planet, but he was competing in his first boxing match while taking on a legend like Mayweather.
Once they finally stepped into the ring together, the fighters put on an entertaining bout for the better part of 10 rounds until it finally came to an end with a rousing TKO as Mayweather finished McGregor with a flurry of punches.
While he was a heavy underdog going into the fight, McGregor showed no signs of intimidation as he went after Mayweather early and often through the first few rounds. McGregor routinely backed Mayweather up to the corner before unloading a barrage of punches to the head and body.
McGregor stayed on the attack and even established a stiff right jab that snapped Mayweather’s head back several times through the fight. The early part of the fight was all McGregor as he continued to rip to the body and head while trying to punish Mayweather, who offered little offense of his own in return.
As it turns out that was by design as Mayweather started to turn up the heat in the fourth round moving forward, but McGregor refused to go away. As Mayweather got more aggressive with his attacks, McGregor was composed and still managed to land some hard stinging punches as time ticked away into the seventh and eighth rounds.
It was in round nine where Mayweather really started to turn up the heat not only because he was targeting his punches with better precision, but also because McGregor began slowing down as his conditioning began to fade.
Mayweather took full advantage by digging punches to the body, which only further zapped McGregor’s reserved energy as the ninth round bled into the tenth.
By then it was clear that Mayweather was looking for the finish and that’s exactly what he got when he opened up with a huge barrage of shots with McGregor stumbling and flailing backwards towards the ropes.
Mayweather stayed on the assault until referee Robert Byrd saw enough and called a stop to the contest at 1:05 into the 10th round.
“I wanted to go out with a bang,” Mayweather said after he moved his record to 50-0 with the win. “I told you guys it would be blood, sweat and tears. I told you he was a hell of a fighter standing up. Kind of shocked me.
“We had a game plan. Our game plan was to let him shoot all his heavy shots, keep walking him down, shoot heavy shots to the body. Shoot big shots upstairs and my dad thought it was going to be a little earlier around the seventh or the sixth [round]. It took us a little longer than we expected, but we did what we said we was going to do. I promise everybody, remember this, I guaranteed you this fight wouldn’t go the distance. I told you I was going for the knockout.”
As much fun as Mayweather had in the ring, he guaranteed that his win over McGregor would serve as the final fight of his legendary career. If this truly is the end, Mayweather walks away from the sport at 40-years of age with a perfect 50-0, while moving into a category all his own as the winningest fighter in boxing history.
CONOR MCGREGOR COULD STAY IN BOXING OR RETURN TO THE UFC NEXT
While it was a disappointing outcome for McGregor, who put everything into his training camp to get ready for Mayweather, he didn’t hold his head low for very long after the fight was over.
McGregor went nearly 10 rounds with one of the best boxers in the history of the sport in his first professional bout and that’s something he can always be proud about form now into the future.
After it was all over, McGregor embraced Mayweather and thanked him for the fight while they will both laugh all the way to the bank with a record breaking event that’s reportedly going to pull in more than $80 million in live gate as well as history making numbers on pay-per-view.
“I believe he was hurt a few times, but he keeps his composure. He doesn’t show it. Look I enjoyed it, I hope you all enjoyed it, it was a fun fight,” McGregor said afterwards.
“I feel it was close. I feel 5-4 [on rounds]. I feel it was 5-4 into round 10. I would have liked to get to the bell to see what’s what.”
McGregor wasn’t ready to commit to his next move in combat sports after the fight despite previously saying that he planned on returning to the UFC by the end of the year.
Instead, McGregor seemed to hint that it’s going to be time to negotiation for his services again after pulling in a payday to fight Mayweather that will likely earn him north of $100 million dollars.
“This was some buzz to come in and face this man,” McGregor said. “I just enjoyed the whole experience. So I’m just relishing in it for now. I have many options in mixed martial arts. I’m sure there are options now that will present themselves in the boxing game. Right now I’m a free agent. My name is on the ring. McGregor Sports and Entertainment on a boxing ring. I’m very proud of that. I’ll see what’s next but I’m open. I love competing and I love a good fight.
“I’m certainly young, 29 years of age. I don’t think the boxing world or the fighting world has seen a man as confident as this come in at this age and with this amount accolades and this amount of records and this amount of revenue generated. So I’m certainly open to all options.”
