Too-good Mayweather puts Mcgregor back in his cage

Like inexperienced lovers, so much of the Floyd Mayweatherandconormcgregorexcitement was in the anticipation, and in the talking about it afterwards. The doing bit was all rushed enthusiasm in one corner, informed by too little know-how or real experience, and feigned engagement in the other. The climax was emphatic but hardly fulfilling since, by then, there was only sensate party.

As a contest it never stood a chance, because Conor Mcgregor, for all his animal lust and hunger for the action, can’t box, which in a boxing match left him at a disadvantage.

He can fight all right, and while that is a necessary component it is not sufficient in this environment.

Mayweather is an old man, and looked it at times. He had not fought for two years and has fragile hands. But, as arguably the greatest defensive boxer of all time, he needed only to get out of bed to ensure victory would be his.

He barely threw a punch in the first three rounds, which helped swell the feeling of success among the massed ranks of Mcgregor supporters in the arena and around the world. Mcgregor created the impression that he was the dominant dog in the fight but strip away the frenzy and he never landed clean.

The best boxers know how not to get hit, how to defuse a punch that might look like a blow to the naked eye but are drained of power by the heightened reflexes of a defensive artist on the move, always

0 Floyd Mayweather celebrates after referee Richard Byrd stops the fight in the tenth round. just a fraction out of range. Mayweather controlled every element of this fight, even those first three rounds when heallowedmcgregorhishead. Had he chosen to step into the pocket sooner the fight would have ended earlier.

Mcgregor thought Mayweather neither strong nor fast, but he was out on his feet at the end, reduced to rubble by a relative pensioner. Mayweather relies not on brute strength but timing, both in defence and attack. When his punches land they are the more spiteful because they look so harmless.

They are not concussive, but wickedly efficient and when they hit the target they are received like a train slamming into the solar plexus.

If it failed in boxing terms, as a spectacle it was a huge success, and they both made a chunk of money, which is essentially what this whole shebang was about. I saw it more like a series leading to a finale, a little like Game of Thrones, a drama of seven parts concluding in a final conflagration, which might or might not meet expectation. Mayweather was the one with the dragons in his gloves, breathing fire when it mattered.

Thankfully there is no appetite for a rematch. Sport does not work when outcomes are known beforehand. If they really wanted to do it again, they should step into a cage, but there is not, and was never, a chance that Mayweather might meet Mcgregor on the Irishman’s terms. Mcgregor understood that and took the best part of $100 million to bed as compensation. That will feel like the biggest victory of his life once the bruises have healed. Conor Mcgregor will consider remaining in boxing despite being thoroughly outclassed and stopped in ten rounds by Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas.

Following a fast-paced start in which he landed few punches of significance, he could do little to resist the effects of both fatigue in his professional boxing debut and Mayweather’s unusually aggressive approach at the T-mobile Arena.

“I’m not sure what’s next,” the Irishman said after the light-middleweightmatchup that will earn him a reported minimum purse of £23 million, by some distance a career-high. “I have multiple world titles in the UFC to think about as well as the boxing. I’m a student of the game and I’ve studiedfloydanditwasanhonour to share the ring with him. I will get back into my jiu-jitsu and freestyle wrestling training and we will see what’s next.”

Mayweather remained adamant that this will be the final fight of his career. He has previously insisted he is retiring before being lured back but with this latest victory improved his record to 50-0 and, in doing so, ensured he surpasses Rocky Marciano.

Though dominant, his performance was not to the polished level he demonstrated at his very peak, and he claimed afterwards the recurring problem with his “brittle” hands prevented him from sparring for a month.

“You won’t see me in the ring no more, so any guy that’s calling me out, forget it,” said the 40-year-old, who also revealed he plans to become a trainer.