‘The Notorious’ made the wise move from his lofty perch as the king of UFC to take on the best pugilist of a generation, and potentially more, in the majestic Floyd Mayweather.
Despite massive calls for McGregor to test himself in the squared circle against a top contender before Mayweather, the 29 year-old knew he couldn’t take the risk of fans seeing his awkward style beforehand.
Pay-Per-View buys, projected to hit over four million, would have suffered as it was apparent McGregor failed to come to grips with upright boxing traits. Even after months of training.
From his wide stance to consistently hitting Floyd on the back of the head, McGregor struggled to stop punching as referee Robert Byrd said break and was lucky not to have a point taken off.
Byrd’s instructions bordered on the be lenient.
During the fight, McGregor made several fouls – round after round. Sometimes without warning from the experienced official.
Landing on Mayweather regularly in the first three rounds saw McGregor gain great credit. However, the ‘Money’ man admitted afterward he used (similar to) Muhammad Ali’s rope-a-dope tactics to take the steam out of his opponent.
CONOR MCGREGOR EMPTY
The blueprint adopted worked as McGregor emptied his gas tank through four rounds. This situation happened is despite being ahead on the World Boxing News live scorecard at the time.
It was just a matter of waiting for Mayweather from the fifth round onwards as punches which would never affect the top welterweights or super-welterweights of boxing, hit their mark and sapped ounces of energy out of McGregor with every blow.
In the end, Mayweather scored the stoppage he promised as Byrd rightly jumped in to save McGregor from what would have been a sickening knockout if allowed to continue.
McGregor now seems likely to head back to the octagon for his next fight as ex-sparring partner Paulie Malignaggi continues to offer the two-weight UFC title-holder a second boxing bout.
The Italian-American does seem like an ideal opponent for McGregor due to his lack of power. Also, the needle between the pair from their training sessions gives another angle.
But whether Showtime could sell the encounter as a mammoth PPV event would be yet another topic for debate.
Phil Jay is Editor of World Boxing News. Follow on Twitter @PhilDJay
