Today's fight of the century between boxing champion Floyd Mayweather and MMA star Conor McGregor was definitely the most hyped sports event of the year.
First, let's take a look at the profile and statistics of both fighters, how the fight even happened, and how it turned out!
Floyd "Money" Mayweather - The Undefeated
Floyd Mayweather Junior is a 40 year-old professional Boxer and world champion across five different weight divisions.
He's the son of boxing champ and coach Floyd Joy Mayweather Senior.
Floyd is a legend in boxing and has won all of his 50 fights - 26 of those via K.O.
He is UNDEFEATED - which is something only a handful of professional boxers can say about themselves!
This fight was his 50iest, and also the last one of his career.
Conor McGregor - The Notorious
Conor McGregor is a 29 year-old MMA fighter from Dublin, Ireland.
He is world champion amongst 3 weight classes, and one of the most popular figures in Mixed Martial Arts.
He actually used to fight in boxing at the beginning of his career, but moved on to pursue only MMA. So for him to execute this fight today in boxing was quite the adjustment.
Conor McGregor has gained a lot of media attention in the last few years due to his extroverted personality. Conor likes to make bold statements, trash talk his opponents, and his confidence is on a whole different level.
How did the fight happen?
A boxing champion competing against a MMA is not something that happens everyday - so how did this fight even happen ?!
It was actually 2 years ago, in july 2015, when McGregor first stated that he would box against Mayweather "if the opportunity arose."
In may 2016, the possibility of actually making this "billion dollar fight" happen was first stated on a serious note - but UFC Dana white still denied these claims as "tabloid story" at this point.
From this point on, it took over 1 year to actually make today's fight happen.
Floyd had actually already retired, until Conor challenged him for this once in a lifetime fight.
For both, the immense monetary reward might have been a big motivation - Mayweather receives a minimum of $100 million reward, while McGregor receives min. $30 million.
Trash Talks, Press Conferences & Pre-Fight Buzz
This fight had a very long build-up and the trash talk was definitely on another level.
Mc Gregor, who wears his heart on his sleeve and likes to provoke opponents with his trash talk, of course always had a big verbal hit prepared for Floyd.
Mayweather on the other hand tried to hit back at the beginning too, but later on changed his strategy to a more diplomatic approach.
“God don’t make mistakes and God only made one thing perfect. And that’s my boxing record.”
-Floyd Mayweather
"He's fought people that have shied away from him. I don't fear him. I don't fear this limited set of fighting. This is a limited set of rules that makes this half a fight, a quarter of a fight. This isn't a true fight. If this was a true fight, it wouldn't even take one round."
-Conor McGregor
I'm the best at it, when it comes to trash-talking. He's not able to push my buttons. He cannot out-talk me.
-Floyd Mayweather
I don’t fear (Floyd Mayweather) I don’t fear his limited set of rules. You aint gonna do shit, you’ll do fucking nothing.
-Conor McGregor
"There has been a lot of trash-talkers [through my career], and at the end of the day, he's not bad. We will rate him No. 2. I'm No. 1. He's got heart."
-Floyd Mayweather
The fight
The big fight between Mayweather and McGregor finally happened today!
This much anticipated event was turned into an evening events with 3 pre-fights and then finally the big main fight of the night.
During most the first few rounds of the fight, both opponents were quite equal.
Both showed their skill and experience, and their quick yet powerful fists.
Mc Gregor proved his discipline by sticking (mostly) to the boxing rules while demonstrating his strength and speed, and Mayweather stuck to his experience although he was undoubtedly also surprised by McGregor's boxing style.
But slowly, it became more and more visible that McGregor grew a little tired and it was obvious that this wasn't his sport. He didn't box as efficiently and as smart as Floyd.
In the 10th fight, it finally happened - Floyd Mayweather managed to defeat Conor Mc Gregor.
When Mc Gregor tumbled, he received several consecutive very hard hits from Mayweather, which resulted in the referee stopping the fight.
What was your opinion about the fight - who did you route for and what did you think about the outcome?
© Sirwinchester