This past Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Floyd Mayweather scored a 10th round technical knockout over UFC superstar Conor McGregor in the main event of a Showtime Sports Pay-Per-View card.
McGregor, making his professional boxing debut, had boasted he would knock out the 40-year-old Mayweather early but his lack of ring savvy betrayed him as Mayweather improved to 50-0 to surpass heavyweight great Rocky Marciano's 49-0 record for most wins without a loss or draw.
As promised, McGregor came out full of fury and menace but Mayweather, long regarded as the finest defensive fighter to step into the ring, left few openings and used the first three rounds to feel out his opponent.
By the fourth round Mayweather went on the attack and started landing blow after blow against a suddenly desperate McGregor who was bravely hanging on while clutching and grabbing the boxing great.
In the 10th, Mayweather moved in for kill pinning a visibly fatigued McGregor against the ropes and landing a flurry of punches when the referee stepped in to stop the fight.
Former two division world champion Paulie Malignaggi was working the fight from ringside as part of Showtime's broadcast team.
Malignaggi, who sparred with McGregor on two occasions in the UFC star's training camp to prepare for Mayweather, had claimed the MMA fighter couldn't really punch - at least when wearing boxing gloves.
Many saw Malignaggi as being a hater, because he quit McGregor's camp after the two fighters had a bad fallout from their second sparring session.
“Obviously now people know that I'm not a hater, I'm not lying. The guy can't punch. I mean, you saw, he only throws arm punches. He doesn't know how to translate his weight on his shots in boxing. I mean, there was nothing on those shots if you didn't notice. I was ringside, there was literally nothing on those shots. But, his little points, his little movements – sharp, awkward little movements – it won him a couple rounds. You gotta give credit where credit is due,” Malignaggi told iFL TV.