By Andreas Hale
Now that the dust has settled, it’s time to assess Conor McGregor’s performance against Floyd Mayweather and wonder aloud whether the UFC lightweight champion has a future in boxing.
The short answer is “no.”
Obviously, if McGregor wants to continue boxing, he’d be able to fetch a pretty penny off of his name. However, he’s got a lot of work to do if he ever wanted to be compete on a high level in the wonderful world of pugilism. And being competitive isn’t quite enough. McGregor would need to be good enough to win fights. That’s a different beast in its entirety.
As for his performance against Mayweather, it was solid, yet nothing spectacular. Those who thought he would get wiped out in under four rounds clearly don’t understand boxing and how Mayweather operates. The same can be said of those who believed McGregor would flatten him in two rounds. McGregor is a fighter and he fought admirably for as long as he could. His first three rounds saw him land some solid, yet relatively ineffective, punches. The counter left uppercut in the first being the most impressive of them all. However, Mayweather had a plan and walked through McGregor’s punches like they were nothing. This was a far cry from the lauded power that both McGregor and UFC president Dana White said he had.
Obviously, they underestimated what it would take to put the unbeaten Mayweather down. One punch certainly wouldn’t do it and McGregor didn’t really have a plan B after he realized Mayweather was soaking up his punches and walking him down. Eventually, his cardio failed him and Mayweather began to wear him down with body punches before teeing off on the Irishman in the 9th and 10th rounds.
Sure, McGregor performed better than most expected. But most people had unrealistic expectations. McGregor had a 20 pound weight advantage but didn’t understand enough about the nuances of boxing to use it properly. He often punched himself out of position and his MMA muscle memory put him in places where he couldn’t follow up with the right punch. Meanwhile, Mayweather was content with putting his gloves up and coming forward. He’d pick off a few of McGregor’s punches, eat a couple and pressure him into fighting off of his back foot, which McGregor doesn’t do very well. The ending sequence was one where Mayweather didn’t have to worry about anything McGregor could have thrown because he was totally gassed out. Regardless of what anybody says, the referee stoppage was just as McGregor had nothing left to mount up any offense.
Floyd Mayweather was a 40-year-old man coming off of a two year layoff to cash a massive payday. McGregor posed little threat to Mayweather’s perfect record. But the UFC lightweight champion left the building as a hero to the MMA community. Many narratives about how a guy with no professional boxing experience “took it to” Mayweather for three rounds. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. He performed admirably but was in way over his head.
Should McGregor decide to try his hand at the sweet science again, he would have to stay far, far away from the top 10 fighters from junior middleweight and middleweight. Guys like Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin would murder him. The reason why they would get rid of McGregor quicker than Mayweather is because they have true punching power and wouldn’t need to strategize to wear McGregor down. Those two are the worst opponents for McGregor. But the rest of the 154 and 160 pound division would be just as bad. Miguel Cotto, the Charlo brothers, David Lemieux, Daniel Jacobs, Billy Joe Saunders, Austin Trout, Demetrius Andrade, Jarrett Hurd and the list goes on when it comes to boxers who would dispatch of McGregor.
But there’s always Paulie Malignaggi. And, to be honest, this is the only route McGregor could go if he wants to have another fight inside of the squared circle. Their feud is well documented and if we are to believe what McGregor and Dana White have said, the UFC champ had his way with the retired boxer when they sparred together. It doesn’t even necessarily have to be true, but if it was the least bit competitive, it could make for a compelling boxing match that can be booked for St. Patrick’s Day 2018 in New York. Malignaggi does have some credibility left as an opponent despite retiring earlier this year after being stopped by Sam Eggington. He may not have much pop (7 KOs in 44 fights) and he’s a bit weathered at 36, but those elements make a McGregor showdown all the more interesting. McGregor won’t have concerns about being stopped by a power puncher and Malignaggi is just enough past his prime where we can see this as about as evenly matched as it’s going to get for the Irishman.
Aside from a fight with Malignaggi, it would be best for McGregor to take his talents back to the UFC. He dared to be great and was paid handsomely for his efforts. But the reality is that he has a long way to go before he could ever be competitive as a boxer. The smoke and mirrors of Floyd Mayweather bringing a style that made McGregor look good are now over. The 50-0 fighter could have easily put on a counter punching clinic that would have made them both look bad to the general public. But credit must be given to Mayweather for -- as pro wrestling fans would say -- giving McGregor “the rub.” Now, McGregor can take the glow of Mayweather back to the UFC and negotiate a huge purse for his next fight. After all, the UFC needs him more than boxing does.
