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By Vincent Pensabene
The most anticipated fight of all time ended in the most probable way. Aug. 26, 2017 will go down as the day when UFC’s biggest star, Conor McGregor, stepped into a boxing ring for the first time as a professional boxer against the best the sport of boxing has to offer, Floyd “Money” Mayweather. Many thought the fight was never going to happen as the talk building up this fight began shortly after Mayweather’s fight against Manny Pacquiao back in 2015 after Mayweather said he is going into retirement.
Floyd said that he owed it to the people to have a better fight than the last one he had against Manny Pacquiao, and he did just that. Many people, who have never watched a boxing match prior to this, were still able to be entertained and watch a good fight.
The pay-per-view did not go without its scrutiny as a lot of people were having issues with ordering the boxing match. UFC.tv, who was selling the fight on their website alongside with Showtime Boxing, had their website crash hours before the bout. This caused the time of the fight to be delayed by almost half an hour.
Despite the issues ordering the pay-per-view, the fight ended with the dominant Mayweather forcing the referee to call for the TKO in the 10th round in their junior middleweight clash to an under capacity crowd at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Mayweather became the first boxer to have 50 wins without a loss or a draw, passing the legendary Rocky Marciano. Floyd said after the fight that he will be returning to his retirement saying “This was my last fight. Tonight I chose the right dance partner to dance with.”
Mayweather let McGregor win the first three rounds, tiring McGregor out before beginning his offense.McGregor, who is used to having a maximum of 25 minute fights in the UFC looked burned out after round six.Many people have said this was a disgraceful way for Mayweather to pass Marciano, facing a fighter who has not had any professional boxing experience but Mayweather had a response to those critics.
“A win is a win, no matter how you get it… Rocky Marciano is a legend, and I look forward to going into the Hall of Fame one day.”
McGregor, regarded as one of the best mixed martial artists in the world today, was criticized by many for even having a match against Mayweather boxing ring without experience, but people were ready to cheer for the underdogs. McGregor had landed only 26 percent of his punches during the fight while Mayweather connected on 53 percent.
It will be interesting to see the next chapter for both these fighters. Will McGregor go back to the UFC after this? Will he try to get a rematch against Mayweather? Will he try to get the rumored fight against former sparring partner and now commentator Paulie Malignaggi in Ireland on Saint Patrick’s Day? Will Mayweather remain retired at forty years of age or come back out of retirement for another fight? These questions will be answered in due time.
