By Keith Idec
LAS VEGAS – Conor McGregor feels as though referee Robert Byrd should’ve let his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. go a little longer.
Mayweather completely disagrees.
The boxing legend thinks Byrd spared McGregor from unnecessary punishment in a fight he couldn’t come back to win Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena. Byrd stopped their scheduled 12-round junior middleweight match at 1:05 of the 10th round after Mayweather continued tattooing a vulnerable McGregor with power punches.
The 40-year-old Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) defended Byrd’s decision to step in when an exhausted McGregor was leaning on the ropes after Mayweather drilled him with a straight right hand.
“I hear him talking about, ‘Oh, you should let me go out on my back or go out on my face,’ ” Mayweather said during the post-fight press conference. “No, the referee saved you because the referee is thinking about your future. Because you’re still young and we want you to be able to fight again someday. So the referee is saving you. He’s not saving me. That’s all I’m saying.”
Ireland’s McGregor was less demonstrative about disputing the stoppage in the post-fight press conference than he was while Showtime’s Jim Gray interviewed him in the ring immediately after the fight.
“I thought the referee done a great job as well,” McGregor said. “I do feel it was a little bit early, but I respect his decision. And I thought he done an amazing job. I thought he let the fight flow where it should’ve flowed.”
In the ring, McGregor told Gray he should’ve been able to continue at least until Mayweather was able to knock him down.
“I thought it was a bit early on the stoppage,” McGregor said. “I’d have liked to hit the floor. I’d have liked the ref to – you know what I mean? There’s a lot on the line here. He should’ve let me keep going, I thought. … I was just a little fatigued.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.