8-ounce Gloves Used For Big Fight
LAS VEGAS – The strip was energized and plenty of young people were milling in the T-Mobile plaza adjacent to the arena. There were even some tickets available for the “Money Fight.” That is how the Mayweather camp billed the branding and hype for this event. Plenty of international visitors descended onto ground zero for the festivities.
Referee Robert Byrd stopped the fight in the tenth round as a “fatigued and wobbly” Conor McGregor was being pummeled by Floyd Mayweather Jr. He hadn’t been knocked down yet. McGregor might have been able to survive for another round.
“(Mayweather) is so composed,” McGregor said post-fight. “I have to give him great respect. I thought it was close. I just got a little fatigued. He has had a great career. That’s what 50 professional fights will do for you.”
“He is a tough competitor,” said Mayweather, fighting for the first time in two years after coming out of retirement for a guaranteed $100 million to face McGregor. “But the game plan was to let him take all of his shots early and then take him out down the stretch. He got all his power shots off the first 25 minutes, but then he started to slow down.”
It was a historic outcome on all levels of boxing and MMA. Mayweather, (40 years old) has now surpassed Rocky Marciano’s record of 49 wins against no defeats. He sports an incredible 50-0 mark.
Mayweather and McGregor, (29 years old) got their wish to fight in smaller gloves. It was a talking point in pre-fight hype. They fought at 154 pounds, (super welterweight). Mayweather’s promoter, Leonard Ellerbe, said his fighter is more comfortable in smaller gloves and would use them to stop McGregor. Ellerbe predicted a knockout. John Hornewer, an attorney and spokesperson for Mayweather said, “Mayweather will be at 150 pounds. That’s his best weight and there’s no reason to put on extra weight.”
A McGregor representative said his fighter boosted up to about 160-163 pounds after the weigh-in.
The T-Mobile Arena was rocking-and-rolling with celebrity attendees such as Tommy Hearns, Jerry Bruckheimer, LeBron James, Charlize Theron, Mike Tyson, Julius Erving, Cal Ripken Jr. and Jamie Foxx. As the mega-fight between Mayweather and McGregor finally neared, things got started with the singing of both the Irish and U.S. national anthems. Kicking things off was Dublin-born singer Imelda May, who belted out a respectable edition of “Amhran na bhFiann.” That was followed by pop star Demi Lovato, dressed in a white low-cut dress, as she sang a passionate “Star Spangled Banner.” Mayweather entered the ring wearing a full ski mask and hoodie.
McGregor was warned often for rabbit punches to the neck while Mayweather fought tactical and defensive. “He is a tough competitor,” said Mayweather, who was fighting for the first time in two years after coming out of retirement. Mayweather got a guaranteed $100 million to face McGregor.
Even though McGregor claimed he wasn’t physically hurt, his punching output had dramatically slowed as the fight wore on. According to CompuBox, Mayweather had a 59-12 edge in power punches landed in the final two rounds of the fight.
“But the game plan was to let him take all of his shots early and then take him out down the stretch. He got all his power shots off the first 25 minutes, but then he started to slow down. This was my last fight. This is it. You won’t see me in the ring again, so whatever young guys are calling me out, forget it. I’m good,” said Mayweather.
Mayweather would endure and eventually finished off McGregor with a flurry. Afterward, Mayweather addressed Byrd’s officiating performance. “I let the referee do his job. I’m not here to bash the referee. There was a lot of rabbit punching. Things happen, you live and you learn. I just went out there to do my job,” Mayweather said. He also trash-talked McGregor in the fifth round to encourage the Irishman to throw more punches and tire himself out.
There were 2,000 in attendance at the Encore Beach Club at the Wynn Hotel on the Las Vegas strip to catch a glimpse of the party hosted by McGregor. McGregor reportedly settled the bar tab at $85,000, and he took some time to have a drink and a chat with Ireland’s celebrated soccer star, Robbie Keane. Earlier McGregor used the post-fight press conference to launch his own brand of Irish whiskey called, “Notorious.”
Mayweather hosted a post-fight party at a strip club that he had recently purchased for the occasion.
Piracy of the broadcast was also a problem as streams of the fight became available via livestreaming apps such as Twitter’s Periscope. It was free but the show had a grainy picture and intermittent sound.
Mayweather-McGregor was expected to be among the biggest PPV draws in history, estimated to have as much as $1 billion in revenues. The total haul from the event could be impacted if refunds and givebacks have to be delivered to a significant subset of the audience and advertisers. Showtime issued a statement acknowledging the problems and announcing the delay late Saturday. “Due to high demand, we have reports of scattered outages from various cable and satellite providers and the online offering. We will delay the start of the main event slightly to allow for systems to get on track. We do not expect a lengthy delay.”
