McGregor vs Mayweather

[czvo]

Thought Mayweather thoroughly dominated the fight, to the point where it really wasn't close after the first two rounds. McGregor was one more shot to the face from going down, and had the ref let it go, he probably gets knocked out. Floyd was absolutely punishing him the second half of the fight. Saw somewhere on Twitter he landed 59 power punches to Conner's 14 over the last 5 rounds. Just absurd.

At the same time, you could tell Conner is a good fighter. He's just not a good boxer. He immediately came out like an MMA fighter, he never protected himself, and he just looked awkward at times. But as it's been pointed out, he landed a couple of good shots early, and he was definitely a lot quicker than Floyd expected.

I know a lot of people don't really like Floyd's style, and I'll admit, as someone who doesn't watch a ton of boxing, he's not exciting at all (plus, he's a fucking terrible human being). But damn if I don't find myself impressed any time I do watch him fight. He's just so damn good at avoiding punches. The thing that stood out to me is any time Conner would come in with anything more than a jab, he would always leave himself vulnerable to any kind of counter. Floyd, on the other hand, hardly ever left himself open. He'd throw and cover. Or he'd throw and immediately fly back. The quickness and core strength are out of this world.

If Connor had gone up against a more offensive boxer, someone that would come out and attack from the get go, he'd be toast. Floyd seemed content to see what he'd do early, and once he saw the weaknesses, he attacked more than usual. I know people were "proud" or "excited" that Connor lasted as long as he did, but were people really surprised? Floyd's not a knockout boxer.

 

[CBBI]

Collectively, everyone here is surprised by how well he did, right?

Stunning upper cut in round one that legit would have KO'd some middle tier fighters.

The fight was definitely more competitive than I expected even though it wasn't really THAT competitive overall.

Did Mayweather intentionally give a couple early rounds away in an effort to empty McGregor's gas tank? Seems like that was the game plan.

Floyd's willingness to uncharacteristically plod forward with very little footwork - likely a combination of the fact that by Round 4 Conor had very little on his punches, alleviating Floyd's concern with a counter punch KO and a little bit of age and ring rust - certainly played a role, but...

A guy with zero pro boxing fights and a relatively limited amount of training landed 111 punches in 9.5 rounds on the most talented defensive fighter in history.

For perspective, nine other Mayweather opponents landed less than 100 punches in 12 rounds -- including Pacquiao, who only landed 81.

Conor has absolutely nothing to be ashamed about.

 

[KI4MVP]

I understand.

There's a drastic difference on that gif, and what Floyd does. Ali wasn't out here hugging his way through bad rounds to score 10/9's on dodging punches.

Ali certainly did his share of hugging, especially from the Foreman fight on. And it was a masterful strategy to use against Foreman.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55AasOJZzDE

 

[MD13]

I'd say at this point Mayweather should probably avoid fighting any young cats. Think a lot of people better conditioned for a 12 round boxing match would be able to walk through his punches now.

Put him in there against some 30 year old professional boxer, who knows how to control himself more, not sure Floyd wants to do that at his age.

Yeah, agree completely. Floyd as good as he is technically just doesn't have what it physically takes to go 12 rounds with a younger, stronger guy at this point. No doubt Conor's boxing skills looked A LOT better than I thought he would for a few rounds, but I really think low expectations did him a lot of favors in how people view it. He won the first few largely because Floyd wasn't really throwing anything at all, but he didn't have much snap on his punches even before he got tired, and afterwards he could have hit Floyd with a flush shot and it wouldn't have done a thing.

It's also really bizarre how bad Conor's stamina is. He obviously trains his ass off, and yet it seems to show up in every fight. Floyd is notorious for having a really low work rate, and Conor still had nothing left by about the 6th round. If he's put in there with any young up and comer who will push the pace, dig to his body and push him with a lot more urgency than Floyd did, the fight is probably over within 4.

 

[KI4MVP]

Hoooooooo !!!

What a gif!

What I would give to see a modern day Ali..

When Ali was making his comeback from being banned from boxing, he did a sparing tour. My dad took me to see him live when it came to our town. Back then all of the big fights were on closed circuit PPV, you didn't get it at your house, you went to the local sports arena (our town's version of the Q) where they had a giant movie screen set up. Instead of watching the fight by yourself, or with a few friends, you watched with thousands of other people. It was a whole different experience.

We saw all of Ali's big fights, and I think all of Sugar Ray Leonard's, that way.

 

[Kouki]

Never actually watched boxing or MMA but I was thoroughly entertained last night watching my Dutch live stream. It's unbelievable to me, the speed at which punches are thrown. And it wasn't a streaming quality problem either. I'd hear the crowd reaction and think wait wtf did I miss, only when they showed a super slow mo replay did I see hard hits to the face landing.

 

[KI4MVP]

Just to add to my two posts above. Foreman was supposed to destroy Ali in that fight, the same way he destroyed Joe Frazier and Ken Norton. Going into that fight Foreman was probably the most feared boxer ever, peak Mike Tyson is the closest. People, including me, were afraid Ali would get seriously hurt. Foreman had won is prior 8 fights in 2 rounds or less, including Joe Frazier and Ken Norton and only 2 of his prior 17 fights lasted more than 2 rounds.

His comeback years later was one of the more entertaining things I've seen in boxing. Completely different personality, completely different boxer, so relaxed out there. I so badly wanted him to get a fight with Tyson because I was convinced Foreman was the one who could beat him, because most fighters lost to Tyson before they even stepped in the ring. Buster Douglass messed that up.

 

[Surge]

I though McGregor won the first 3 rounds.

Made it surprising that the judges had it 8-1 when the TKO happened.

 

[Randolphkeys]

My wild prediction: McGregor figures out he has no chance to win on points in a late round, maybe the 9th, then he gets overly aggressive. Floyd takes advantage and floors him.

Off by one round.

 

[kosis]

Yeah, my prediction was off by a few rounds, but the result was never in doubt. Floyd tired him out in the first few rounds and just feasted pretty soon after afterwards. Some observations I had:

Floyd looked closer to his age than I thought he would. He was still well conditioned and fought a disciplined fight, but his punches weren't as crisp as they normally were, and his timing was a bit off. He can no longer hang in the division so this fight came at the perfect time for him. Guys like Terence Crawford and Errol Spence would handle Floyd in this new era.

Conor fought better than I thought he would. I'm a fan of his in MMA but thought he would look more lost out there. Granted, he DID look lost for much of it, but still better than I anticipated.

To @gourimoko 's point, Floyd's team never complained about the hammer fists which just tells you they weren't concerned and didn't want excuses. In a normal fight, Conor gets at least 2 points taken from him during the duration of that fight and makes it even more lopsided.

Fun fight to watch, though!

Also, if you are in the least bit intrigued by boxing, watch Golovkin v Canelo on September 16th. Maybe the most anticipated fight in boxing over the last 3 or 4 years. Two middleweights at the top of their division in their primes or at least close to it. Knockout is virtually guaranteed, though no one knows who will do it (My money is always on my boy GGG).

And if the side-stepping by Conor piqued your interest check out Vasyl Lomachenko do it more than twice as fast every fight. Guy is an absolute stud in the lightweight divisions. Pound for pound king in my opinion right now. Check out :45 second mark in the vid below. Also watch 1:10 where he slyly knocks the opponent's guard down with one hand to connect through the opening with the other. Every fight is a clinic.

 

[CBBI]

Floyd looked closer to his age than I thought he would. He was still well conditioned and fought a disciplined fight, but his punches weren't as crisp as they normally were, and his timing was a bit off. He can no longer hang in the division so this fight came at the perfect time for him. Guys like Terence Crawford and Errol Spence would handle Floyd in this new era.

Sadly, we'll probably never find out because it seems like Floyd is pretty serious about this being his last fight, but I'm not 100% convinced Floyd is actually washed.

I think Floyd, knowing this was his last fight, used a decidedly different game plan against McGregor than he would hypothetically use against a Crawford or a Spence.

Floyd barely moved around in this fight. It certainly could have been the two-year layoff and the fact he's working on 40-year-old legs. But I don't think he ever felt like Conor could truly hurt him -- especially once Conor started losing energy -- and so Floyd stayed in the pocket and did significantly more stalking than he normally does.

I think IF Floyd were so inclined to fight again and he fought a trained professional, he would revert back to his traditional risk adverse style.

 

[DJTJ]

Also, if you are in the least bit intrigued by boxing, watch Golovkin v Canelo on September 16th. Maybe the most anticipated fight in boxing over the last 3 or 4 years. Two middleweights at the top of their division in their primes or at least close to it. Knockout is virtually guaranteed, though no one knows who will do it (My money is always on my boy GGG).

And if the side-stepping by Conor piqued your interest check out Vasyl Lomachenko do it more than twice as fast every fight. Guy is an absolute stud in the lightweight divisions. Pound for pound king in my opinion right now. Check out :45 second mark in the vid below. Also watch 1:10 where he slyly knocks the opponent's guard down with one hand to connect through the opening with the other. Every fight is a clinic.

Triple G and Lomachenko are hands downs the best boxing has to offer.

Glad Canelo's bitch ass stopped avoiding GGG.

 

[K1rieIrving>AllOtherPG's]

I didn't agree with the stoppage, in MMA unless you tap out or get knocked down they don't stop the fight, a guy being wobbly and tired is not a reason to stop a fight that shit happens all the time in MMA, it happened to Connor against Diaz and he still came back strong in the last round and won.

Also the judges scored 8-1? I mean seriously? even respectable boxing people were giving Connor the first 2-3 rounds pretty unanimously.

With that said gotta give credit to Floyd, IMO hes the best ever, greatest boxer to ever live in my view, yes I know its an unpopular opinion because people hate Floyd and put Ali on a pedestal, but 50-0 guy never tasted defeat, I'll take that over 5 losses.

Yes I know its unpopular, I'm ready for the Ali horde to educate me on how great Ali's opponents were compared to Floyds "trash competition" haha, I know the arguments I still pick Floyd as GOAT.

 

[kosis]

I didn't agree with the stoppage, in MMA unless you tap out or get knocked down they don't stop the fight, a guy being wobbly and tired is not a reason to stop a fight that shit happens all the time in MMA, it happened to Connor against Diaz and he still came back strong in the last round and won.

Also the judges scored 8-1? I mean seriously? even respectable boxing people were giving Connor the first 2-3 rounds pretty unanimously.

With that said gotta give credit to Floyd, IMO hes the best ever, greatest boxer to ever live in my view, yes I know its an unpopular opinion because people hate Floyd and put Ali on a pedestal, but 50-0 guy never tasted defeat, I'll take that over 5 losses.

Yes I know its unpopular, I'm ready for the Ali horde to educate me on how great Ali's opponents were compared to Floyds "trash competition" haha, I know the arguments I still pick Floyd as GOAT.

Come on, that was a good stoppage. We all would have liked to see Conor hit the canvas, but he didn't punch for 45 seconds and was getting hit with clean shot after clean shot, particularly the right straights. Boxing does a better job than MMA in trying to preserve these guys' brains. I've also never seen someone that gassed in a fight my entire life watching boxing. He was a walking corpse with zero chance to win. Meanwhile, Floyd could have gone another 4 rounds easy.

Floyd as the best ever... nah. I won't debate this because it's subjective or whatever, but you've got tons of boxers that fought EVERYONE in front of them and were great champions in their own right. Floyd has clearly ducked boxers in their primes and met most of the champs during their twilight years.

Still, he's definitely a top fighter for his skill alone, and I've loved watching him fight. A technician whose defensive skills rank among the best ever. One of a very few over the last 20 years with that aura of invincibility... but the competition he chose to fight will never put him in top 5, even.

 

[The Wizard of Moz]

I'm probably in the minority that actually enjoys watching Mayweather fight, but best ever? No. And it isn't just Ali that's ahead of him.

Mayweather beat everyone in front of him sure, but he was also the best fighter in the worst generation of boxing. I mean if we are going by record alone is Marciano really the second best boxer ever?