Why Is Ffloyd Mayweather Challenging Conor Mecgregor Again?

Isaac Brekken/Associated Printing

Information technology was supposed to be a mismatch.

But there was Conor McGregor on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Loonshit in Las Vegas, Nevada, peppering Floyd Mayweather's caput and body with punches—outboxing the best boxer of a generation over the showtime three rounds in their boxing vs. MMA superstars pay-per-view megafight.

What had McGregor'south prefight heed games done to Mayweather?

McGregor agreed to a match versus Mayweather using Mayweather'southward rules. He had conceded all that he knew before to have a chance at trading leather with the preeminent boxer of this era. It was Mayweather, the undefeated boxing cracking and winner of 49 consecutive fights, versus McGregor, a human competing in his get-go-ever professional battle match.

Why did it accept then long for Mayweather to finish him off?

Isaac Brekken/Associated Press

Formulating the Plan

Despite giving away the showtime three rounds of the fight, it's likely Mayweather was never in any real problem on fight dark. Yes, McGregor'due south oddball southpaw opinion and decidedly un-boxing-like punching angles were new information sets for Mayweather to procedure.

But Mayweather notoriously skips the prefight ritual of watching film of the opponent earlier fights, then using the first few rounds equally a report course on McGregor was a given heading into things. Even so, no matter how many dissimilar boxing styles Mayweather had faced before, and he probably idea he had faced them all, he had never encountered ane quite like McGregor'due south.

Heck, no one had. If one had never seen an MMA fighter try to box before, McGregor's unorthodox striking tactics looked like something from Invasion of the Trunk Snatchers. McGregor sure looked like a regular dude on the outside, but his moves made him look similar some kind of alien just pretending to be homo.

Bleacher Report @ BleacherReport

McGregor…is in this thing? https://t.co/QJUGI90sWi

Just the truth of the matter is that Mayweather was and so confident in his ability to dominate McGregor over the longer stretch of the fight that he conceded the early rounds, peculiarly Rounds 1 through iii, so that he could mensurate McGregor's skill gear up.

Maybe Mayweather wanted to put on a show. After all, he had promised fans a knockout victory in the fight, and the style he strutted toward McGregor from the opening bell indicates Mayweather was admittedly certain the MMA star wouldn't be able to country any meaningful punches clean.

And McGregor didn't. Fifty-fifty early on, when McGregor was nonetheless fresh and strong, almost of McGregor'south punches were either blocked by Mayweather's arms and gloves or he was able to slip them just enough to minimize the potential knockout force behind them.

So while it may have looked like Mayweather was in trouble during the first quarter of the fight, there was a reason he was smiling at McGregor when the bell sounded to end Round 3.

Mayweather had formulated the plan to defeat McGregor.

Isaac Brekken/Associated Press

Execution of the Program

Mayweather's masterful execution and dismantling of McGregor began in Round 4. Where the previous three rounds of the fight saw Mayweather simply walking toward McGregor with his artillery guarding his face and body, in Round four we saw Mayweather establish his lead right hand and begin to create effective punching angles.

The thought behind creating a punching bending is this: A fighter wants to take his feet and torso positioned so that it is like shooting fish in a barrel for him to land punches while his opponent cannot. Telephone call it Advance Boxing Geometry, and Mayweather is every bit practiced at it as any fighter in history.

One wonders what ran through McGregor's listen the very first time his head was snapped back by the force of that patented Mayweather punch. Historically, the rear hand ability shot had been Mayweather's nigh devastating weapon, and it would play a heavy factor in this fight, too. How many times had McGregor seen clips of Mayweather landing this punch on other fighters? How many times did he tell himself it would exist easy to get out of the fashion?

Eric Jamison/Associated Press

Whatever the answers, Round 4 marked the beginning of reality in the fight. This was Mayweather'south ring and McGregor was simply a guest. The nib was due now and eviction was coming.

Mayweather had begun the tour with a special emphasis on throwing punches to McGregor'south body. The reason a fighter wants to practise this, specially during the early rounds, is that information technology tin pay dividends later in the fight. Torso punches don't often stop a fighter the circular in which they are thrown. They wear on an opponent over time so that, as minutes pass, the recipient's feet outset feeling heavy every bit pb and his torso begins throbbing with the phantom pain of punches that have come but are long gone by now.

Zac @ DCzWall

Floyd Mayweather defenseless Conor McGregor with some hateful rights. #MayweathervMcGregor https://t.co/vQWQ95dbwR

Mayweather really turned upwardly the pressure kickoff in Round 4, and in each round after, he dialed it upwardly a trivial more. His steady walk forward was now augmented past short bursts of explosive quickness.

Like any adept professional person boxer, Mayweather never kept his head in one place for too long, then while McGregor was huffing and puffing to blow Mayweather's house downwards, Mayweather was gliding forward with a full amount of air in his lungs hurling lefts and rights at McGregor'south larger but consistently more than stationary frame.

McGregor did his best to keep Mayweather at a long plenty punching distance but couldn't overcome Mayweather'southward pristine footwork. The hardest thing to practise in boxing is fight well on the within where a puncher's power can exist smothered by his ain trunk, particularly for the larger fighter.

Michael Woods @ Woodsy1069

Floyd said yes, he got hit, because he came frontwards, every bit he promised to do so.

Mayweather knew it, and he probably suspected McGregor had done nada in his life to fix for just how long a 12-circular fight with three-infinitesimal rounds really feels. By Round 5, McGregor couldn't keep his mouth closed from tiredness. Mayweather, meanwhile, continued to amp up the pressure as he pursued McGregor every 2d, sometimes throwing combination punches in bursts but sometimes content just to permit McGregor punch himself out of the fight.

At the end of Round 5, Mayweather shoved McGregor as the two were fix to depart back to their corners. "Show me that power!" he exclaimed, knowing full well McGregor would be incapable of doing it.

The adjacent two rounds would play out the verbal aforementioned script only with Mayweather increasing his stride by a degree or ii hither and there until, by the end of Round 7, McGregor started to get that bewildered wait a fighter gets in his optics when he knows he's well-nigh to lose the fight.

That was the beginning of Conor McGregor's stop.

Isaac Brekken/Associated Press

The End of McGregor

Mayweather isn't a knockout puncher. He is the blazon of fighter who hits just hard enough.

He hits just hard enough to continue his opponents wary of his power. He hits only hard enough to keep them from foolhardily rushing forward the whole fight. He hits just difficult enough to knock a fighter out from an accumulation of punches over the course of the tour.

And no one in the sport is as solid a performer equally Mayweather on fight nighttime.

adel 🇾🇪 @ __adel11

Floyd Mayweather was done playing games with yous. https://t.co/4B1vILIAoF

"He's composed, he'southward not that fast, he's not that powerful, but male child is he composed in in that location," McGregor would say immediately later on the fight. "I thought it was close though, and I thought it was a bit of an early on stoppage. I was simply a little fatigued. He was just a lot more composed with his shots."

Mayweather'due south level of composure is what separates him from the rest of the boxing globe. The unabridged globe could exist falling into chaos effectually him and he'd still exist stone steady ready to win a boxing match.

When Round eight began, McGregor'due south world was falling into pieces. He could hardly hold his arms up anymore and Mayweather was there smirking at him equally the round began.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

If cipher else a game fighter, McGregor kept throwing punches and moving backward to requite him his best chance to get some leverage on his shots. But Mayweather was smarter and faster like Mayweather always is in a boxing band, and he kept closing the distance under McGregor's longer reach to land a frighteningly increased number of potshots.

The terminal two rounds of the fight, in which referee Robert Byrd could honestly accept stopped the bout in either, was only Mayweather's formulated plan at full throttle. Mayweather had secured McGregor to the bottom of the pool. He had filled it upwardly with enough water to cover McGregor'southward unabridged body, and now all he had to exercise in order to drown him completely was comprehend McGregor'south head with the h2o.

Mike Coppinger @ MikeCoppinger

Dare I say, Mayweather looked like Margarito with all that not-stop force per unit area over final few rounds #mayweathermcgregor

McGregor was visibly shaken by Mayweather's punches in Circular 9. He did his best to play coy, simply Round 9 marked the showtime time McGregor had to take hold of and hold Mayweather to get his wits about him.

In Round 10, Mayweather closed the show. McGregor was shell before the bell signified a beginning of action, and Mayweather knew it. He marched forward similar an army of avalanches, overwhelming McGregor with make clean, difficult punches that rocked McGregor's head around equally if it was on a swivel.

Arash Markazi @ ArashMarkazi

The final CompuBox stats for Mayweather-McGregor. https://t.co/ZKiAHLyODa

McGregor may not have wanted to be saved by the referee to end the fight, but he sure needed it.

"This is my last fight, ladies and gentlemen," Mayweather said afterwards the bout. "For sure. This is my terminal fight. This evening, I chose the right trip the light fantastic partner to trip the light fantastic."

Mayweather went on to praise McGregor'south endeavor and rightly so. What was supposed to exist a slow, one-sided squash match instead turned into must-lookout man tv.

McGregor enjoyed plenty moments early to make the bout entertaining to watch, and while Mayweather probably could have won the fight in fifty other different ways, the fact that he chose the one that would be the most fun to watch will leave a lasting impression for years to come.

Then, why did it take so long for Mayweather to stop McGregor? That'south easy. It's because he wanted information technology to.

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Source: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2730029-the-question-whyd-it-take-floyd-mayweather-so-long-to-stop-conor-mcgregor

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