Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor: Referee stops fight in the 10th round
Floyd Mayweather beats Conor McGregor at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas as he goes to 50-0 while the UFC star might consider a rematch.Ryder Cup 2018 final day: Europe vs USA, Sunday singles
Floyd Mayweather outclassed Conor McGregor with a 10th-round stoppage here Saturday to win their money-spinning superfight and clinch his 50th straight victory.
Former welterweight boxing champion Mayweather, who had emerged from a two-year retirement to take on the Irish mixed martial arts star, took his time to get going before dominating from the fourth round.
The end came with a tired McGregor doubled over on the ropes as Mayweather landed two hard left hooks, prompting referee Robert Byrd to intervene and declare a technical knockout.
It was an explosive finale to their much-hyped contest at the T-Mobile Arena which proved surprisingly competitive in the early rounds as McGregor managed to land a string of scoring punches.
But once Mayweather began to find his range and McGregor wearied rapidly, there was only going to be one winner.
The 40-year-old American scored at will after the fourth round, snapping back McGregor's head with a series of stinging blows.
McGregor somehow survived an onslaught in the seventh round when a right counter from Mayweather staggered him badly.
Finally McGregor's resistance broke in the 10th when a Mayweather right sent him lurching across the ring.
A hard left put him on the ropes and another hook saw him bent over and helpless, prompting the stoppage.
The fight had followed a largely expected script but McGregor, in his first ever boxing appearance, by no means embarrassed himself.
Mayweather will now head into what he says is a permanent retirement with a perfect 50-0 record, one better than heavyweight legend Rocky Marciano.
The American is also expected to be around $200 million wealthier, taking his career earnings to around $1 billion.
McGregor, who was an unemployed former plumber four years ago before emerging as one of the biggest stars of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, is expected to earn around $100 million.
As it happened
One of the most hyped-up fights in the history of boxing takes places on Saturday night in T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas (early Sunday morning in Europe) as Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather finally step into the ring together. The fight, being dubbed "The Money Fight", is an invention by both camps and egged on now for months by millions as the talking, of which there has been plenty, ends and the scraping begins.
The Irishman and the American will battle for the "Money Belt" which has 3,360 diamonds, 600 sapphires, 300 emeralds and weighs 1.5 kg of gold. Make no mistake about it, this fight is all about prestige, ego, money, status and bragging rights. Acting as a symbol of what the winner gets, the "Money Belt" is an apt one for what is the biggest money-spinning fight in the history of boxing.
Conor McGregor
The Dublin-born 28-year-old appeared on David Letterman at the beginning of his meteoric rise and said "who wouldn't like to dance around the ring for 180 millions dollars?" when asked if he would fight Mayweather. He is set to land the biggest paycheck of his career with a guaranteed $30 million before you factor in his share in the promotion of the fight.
He currently ranks third in the pound-for-pound ranks in the UFC behind Jon Jones and Demetrious Johnson. He has fought 24 times and won 23 of those (18 by knockout).
McGregor has won his last two fights having lost to Nate Diaz during UFC 196. He is also the only fighter in the UFC to successfully hold two titles in different weights at the same time when he won the lightweight and featherweight belts with wins over Eddie Alvarez and Jose Aldo. McGregor's style of fighting includes a blend of movement that can not be used in a boxing ring but he can swing with the best of them in the octagon and if he can break down Mayweather's excellent defense, he might hurt him. Whether he has enough to outsmart Mayweather is another thing entirely and one of the main reasons why many experts are writing him off.
Floyd Mayweather
Mayweather is considered to be one of the finest boxers to have ever laced a set of gloves. He boasts an unbeaten record in the ring and is one of the most technically excellent boxers in the history of the sport to boot.
His approach to McGregor's antics started out with the 40-year-old trying to match the Dubliner before he realised it was best to watch him entertain the crowds and sit back and enjoy it. Since then, Mayweather has been reserved in his approach and has let McGregor do the talking. While Mayweather's approach, which includes camping out in a strip club before the fight, has been questioned and McGregor saying he has never seen Mayweather in worse shape, "Money" Mayweather has decided he will let his fighting do the talking on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
The narratives surrounding this fight are manifold. There's the MMA fighter fighting the boxer. There's Mayweather's 49-0 unbeaten record at stake against a man who quit boxing to take up fighting in MMA when he was in his teens and then you have the likes of Paul Malignanni, who reportedly joined McGregor's camp in order to spy on the UFC fighter.
Things have quietened before another story emerged and then quietened again but with the fight closing in, all seems to be calm as both fighters retreat to their corner to figure out how to win the "Money Belt". The narratives might be endless but time is running out on the biggest, and strangest fight, we are ever likely to see.