Boxing fans, explain mcgregors early success?

[Soda_Popinski]

Stop it...Conor himself said he was shocked Mayweather took his shots and kept coming...

He threw everything he had at Floyd and couldn't hurt him...even with his 8oz gloves...

[b00g13man]

#FloydRuinsLives

[jmrf4435]

#FloydRuinsLives

MMMM, I would think this was a HUGE emotional shock to mayweather. Probably hurt his ego too

AN 0-0 fighter performs better than almost any of your other opponents? How would that make Floyd feel good? LOL

Not to mention if Floyd stepped in a cage he would get beaten like an ape, grappled, probably choked out.

Floyd appears to be happy about this, but the first 4 rounds probably scared the life out of him.

GOod luck!

[The Gambler1981]

Do you ask why a grandmaster chess player sacrifices a couple of pawns to put someone in checkmate.

Winning rounds is a means to an end of winning the fight, but winning or giving away a couple early rounds is not something that is overly costly if it is part of a plan that works out in a win for the guy giving them away.


Given his punch output it looks like it was part of a plan, whether that was to tire Conor out, to **** around and carry Conor for the show or he was figuring Conor out soup to nuts before going in. Hard to say but it certainly didn't look like Floyd's plan was to win those early rounds and it did not look at all like Conor was forcing the situation it looked like Floyd was always in full control. If that is not painfully apparent at a first or second glance, up your boxing acumen and obvious things won't need to be explained.

[Chaos]

The leprechaun's fans are so butthurt he got whooped they'll bring up anything to make themselves feel better.

[jmrf4435]

Conor's not the best in MMA.





Popularity contest, not withstanding.

AT light weight and featherweight who would you favor?????????????????????NO ONE

He's not a welterweight by MMA standards...

[Tarl of Bristol]

Conor McGregor in his pro boxing debut against The Best boxer of this generation, did much better than anyone expected him to. Granted Floyd is 40 but he is still Floyd.

Conor has nothing to be ashamed of, he gave Floyd a better fight than Manny Paquia or Canelo Alvarez did.

I think the problem Floyd encountered early was Conor understanding range and distance so well and I think the problem Conor ran in to, is that he didn't count on Floyd hitting him as hard as he did. I found it odd that some folks seemed to think before this fight that Conor was the harder puncher.

Conor won 3-4 rounds in his pro boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather and he lasted 9 1/2 rounds; thats a success for him right there.

[Tarl of Bristol]

Heck, Conor did a heck of a lot better crossing over to boxing than James Toney did crossing over to MMA.

[danceswithfire]

conor had success early on with his reach. why didnt conor just keep throwing that lead right hand? just keep putting it out there, even if it doesnt do damage, it kept floyd at bay. he would have saved more energy.

this..plus floyd following him in a straight line like a ****** did not help

to be fair tho, most counter punchers suck as the agressor

[minkyboodle78]

McGregor is benefitting from lowered expectations more than I have ever seen in the history of boxing. He looked absolutely terrible out there. The fact that some are saying he overperformed, is an inditement of their ability to asses McGregor’s skill or that they thought he was so bad to begin with. He hit Floyd with his best (perhaps only) clean punch of the fight (I think about 5 million MMA fans collectively ******ed during the replay) at about 30 seconds to go of round 1, a looping awkward uppercut. That punch solidified Floyd’s strategy for the rest of the fight. From that point on Floyd had 0, I mean 0, respect for McGregor as a puncher or fighter. Another fighter would have been emboldened to really go at McGregor at that point. That is not Floyd’s game. Any person who had watched Floyd for the past 10 years knew that this fight would be like all his most recent ones. He would give up early rounds to win late. Here is where the fact that he was fighting such a poor opponent ended up giving some what they considered a “good” fight.

Because Floyd had no respect for Connor, he didn’t even worry about defending against McGregor’s early aggression. He knew he could not be hurt. I don’t want to get into why Connor had poor boxing power, it has to do with many factors. The most simple is, boxers train for years and years to obtain power in the ring. McGregor hasn’t been doing this, why would he as he is an MMA fighter. However, hopefully the idea that he had some secret Leprechaun inspired god given power in the boxing ring was finally put to rest after the 1st.

Floyd did nothing, I mean nothing the next 2 and a half rounds. People who say that was due to Connor have no pre-knowledge of how Floyd fights. The Pac fight for example, Pac won early rounds. But Floyd was putting on a defense clinic in that fight. He did so, because he respected Pac as a puncher and defended himself accordingly. Floyd knew Connor had no chance to even catch him with a lucky shot, so he sat back and did basically nothing till the 4th (he even mostly stopped head movement, which I could have never predicted). He looked bad doing so. Connor was throwing left and right, they were not any punches of consequence but enough to get the announcers to do their predictable **** and probably win Connor the rounds. People who say “No fighter, would do that by choice, making himself look so bad.” They do not know Floyd Jr. More than any other fighter he does not fight in rounds, but with the whole fight as his goal. He is content to look like dog ****, if it will help him win.

Now I said Floyd was doing nothing in round 2-4 but that is actually a mistatement. He did no physical fighting of note (it really was astonishing to see him just walk around and let Connor punch at him) but Floyd was actively working to win the fight. He knew stamina would be an issue. Apparently, Joe Rogan and all MMA fans thought throwing 5-15 punches in 5 minute rounds would prepare Connor for throwing 30+ in 3 minute rounds. It wasn’t, who knew? So Floyd was content to relax and was even goading Connor (ala a ****tier version of Ali-Frazier) by taunting him constantly. The fact that he was content to do this leaves me torn. One one hand, the cojones that it takes to literally take a dump in the ring in front the world and not give a ****, since it’s a winning strategy is admirable from a balls perspective. From a viewing perspective, it sucks and as a fight fan, its not a quality that I admire. This attitude, combined with Floyd’s skill, has hurt the sport in recent years.

By the middle of the 3rd, the fight was turning. It was basically over by the end of the 4th. I never thought I would see Floyd walking in there, head motionless, smirk on his face, like a mini Tommy Hearns. That a fighter with hands brittle enough that paper cuts are a dire threat looked like this, then you should question who they are fighting against. The next couple of rounds are pretty easy to score/figure. I was impressed with Floyd’s body work. It certainly hastened the end for Connor. Of his best punches in rounds 4-10, I roughly estimate half were to the Irish man’s (considerably larger) body. Connor didn’t just get “gassed,” Floyd was killing him to the body.

Now we come to the stoppage. To all those complaining, let me just say “Get the fook out of here!”

McGregor complained after the fight, but neither he or his corner said peep at the actual stoppage. Experienced fight fans will know this is a key thing. He was out on his feet, he knew and so did his corner.

Fight played out like I think a lot of fight fans thought.