LAS VEGAS – In the end, only the spectacle was memorable. The fight was forgettable. Yet in the end, it was indeed a fight instead of the mere farce predicted by so many.
Floyd Mayweather, Jr. won it and with the stoppage he promised Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in a pay-per-view event expected to set records.
But there was also a victory wrapped in the defeat for Conor McGregor, who was still upright at the time of the 10round TKO and proud as ever after the MMA star’s first professional boxing match against this generation’s best at the more traditional sweet science.
McGregor surprised the boxing pursuits.
Seemed to surprise, Mayweather, too.
He threw jabs nobody had ever seen or even suspected he had. He had Mayweather in retreat fighting off his back foot. In the opening rounds, Mayweather looked exactly like the 40-year-old man who had not answered an opening bell in a couple of years. After six rounds, it looked like an even fight.
But McGregor’s unfamiliarity with boxing became increasingly evident. By the fourth round, there was awkward pawing with his jab. His hands began to drop. All the while, Mayweather’s muscle memory began to exert itself and take control of the junior-middleweight bout.
His found his timing. He rediscovered his sense of range. Then, his right hand began to land, land and land. Suddenly, there was swelling around McGregor’s eyes. In those Irish eyes, there were mounting signs of fatigue.
The end was near, a historical one for what Mayweather vowed was his last fight. In Nevada Athletic Commission-sanctioned bout, Mayweather went 50-0, supassing Rocky Marciano’s milestone.
“Boxing’s reputation was on the line,’’ Mayweather said.
Mayweather’s legacy was, too. He protected that and managed to add a reported $200,000 to his bank account.
“”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,’’ said Mayweather, who ended with it fusillade of right hands that left McGregor holding on and finished at 1:05 of the 10th. “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.’’
McGregor wished that it had. Referee Robert Byrd, he said, should have let it go on, all the way through the 12th and final round and on to the scorecards.
“Where was the final two rounds?’’ said McGregor, who collected a $100 million guarantee. “Let me walk back to my corner and compose myself.”
He’ll have plenty of time to do that. His $100-million guarantee is worth a lot of composure.
Gervonta Davis gets only boos in victory
Gervonta Davis lost his title on the scale. He lost respect in the ring.
Things changed quickly for Badou Jack. He made sure of it.
Tabiti wins unanimous decision over Cunningham
Andrew Tabiti’s fast hands initiated a head-to-body attack that the Las Vegas cruiserweight sustained throughout 10 rounds for a unanimous decision over Steve Cunningham of Philadelphia for a minor title Saturday night at Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena.
Yordenis Ugas, a 2008 Olympic bronze medalist from Cuba, scored two knockdowns and got up from one for unanimous decision over Puerto Rican Thomas Dulorme (24-3, 16 KOs) in a terrific, 10-round welterweight fight Saturday in the final bout before the pay-per-view portion of the Mayweather-McGregor card at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
Everybody might be talking about Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor, but nobody was there when the hyped event began.
The show opened to an empty room Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.
There were only a couple of fighters and lots of echoes about three hours before Showtime’s pay-per-view card was scheduled to begin.
London super-middleweight Savannah Marshall (1-0) and Sydney LeBlanc of Lafayette, LA, created the first echoes. Most of them came from Marshall’s punches. She landed one after another, scoring a unanimous decision over LeBlanc (4-4-1).
In the card’s second fight, Fresno super-middleweight Antonio Hernandez (10-1, 2 KOs) was stronger and busier, scoring often enough for unanimous decision over Kevin Newman (7-1-1, 3 KOs) of Las Vegas.
