Mayweather moves to 50–0 with chess-like strategy versus McGregor

Caleb Souders
Aug 27, 2017 · 3 min read
Photo courtesy of Getty Images

Saturday night was a battle between two of combat sport’s titans. The fight did not disappoint like many people predicted. The fight had everybody on their heels for the first few rounds. Floyd Mayweather set a gameplan and stuck to it, and with that gameplan Mayweather moves his professional boxing record to 50–0. Mayweather surpassed Rocky Marciano for the best record of all-time.

Conor McGregor packs one of the hardest punches pound-for-pound in the world. Just ask the 18 people who he has knocked out in the UFC. McGregor is a calculated smack-talker, a magician at knocking people out and one hell of a salesman. Oh, and on Saturday night he proved to millions of people he could box a little bit too.

The first few rounds:

When the bell finally rang and the fight began, McGregor came out swinging for the fences just like he said he would. For the first few rounds the moment did not seem too big for him, and he seemed calm and collected. This became apparent as many people scored him to have swept the first three rounds.

It was all going as McGregor planned, right? Wrong. Floyd Mayweather was taking blueprints of every move McGregor was making. Every jab, every haymaker, even every hammer punch — Floyd was taking notes.

Stats and misc:

McGregor:

Jabs: 27-of-98. 28%.

Power: 84-of-332. 25%.

Total: 111-of-430. 26%.

Mayweather:

Jabs: 18-of-59. 31%.

Power: 152-of-261. 58%.

Total: 170-of-320. 53%.

Mayweathers magnificent game-plan:

Floyd Mayweather looked outmatched at the beginning of the 12-round bout. McGregor looked bigger, stronger, and composed, but Floyd Mayweather is one of the greatest boxers to ever live — and on Saturday night he proved it. Mayweather wouldn’t come out of retirement at the age of 40 to lose. As the fight progressed, it became apparent that Floyd was letting McGregor gas himself.

Mayweather’s plan was impeccable. McGregor — the younger, bigger, stronger, yet more naive inexperienced boxer had no clue what was coming. Mayweather began to toy with McGregor and in round seven, it became apparent to everybody watching the fight what he was doing. McGregor was not nearly as well conditioned as Mayweather, nor did he have the boxing smarts of the all-time great.

McGregor quickly wore down in the bout, opening up many opportunities for Mayweather’s quick jabs and strikes to peck away at his sluggish and exhausted defense. Mayweather opened up about his strategy after the fight, “Our game plan was to take our time, then take him out at the end, down the stretch.”

Not the underdog Vegas expected:

Doctors deemed the fight “unsafe” for McGregor, saying his lack of knowledge in boxing would get him seriously injured. This proved to be wrong and he proved that he could contend in the boxing world with a little bit of polishing. A 4–1 underdog lasting until the 10th round with one of the greatest boxers ever is impressive. McGregor landed 111 punches in the fight, 30 more than Pacquiao did in 2015.

50–0 for Mayweather:

McGregor lost in round 10 by TKO. He seemed like a dead man walking by the beginning of the round. Quick one-two combinations by the undefeated boxing mastermind who many had been calling “boring” after his calculated win against Manny Pacquiao in 2015, were pecking away at his face for the last three and a half rounds. McGregor was never knocked down in the fight, but Mayweather was certainly licking his chops in round 10.

Before the fight was stopped by referee Robert Byrd, Mayweather was seemingly swinging for the stars with combinations of uppercuts and haymakers. Mayweather had McGregor right where he wanted him, and it was apparent that he wanted to knock McGregor out clean — and who can blame him — McGregor was slandering and mocking Mayweather for the last two months. Mayweather got what he wanted, and he will retire once again on top, saying, “I will never fight again after tonight.”

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