I don’t like Floyd Mayweather Jr. as a person, but damn is he good at boxing.
Like most people, I ordered the Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor boxing pay per view (PPV), which cost a whopping $100!
I’ve heard rumours online that the PPV was ordered by 6.5 million people, which if true, would make it the biggest PPV of all time. Time will ultimately tell on that point, as the official numbers still have yet to be released.
Even though it was a ridiculously expensive purchase, I still thoroughly enjoyed watching the fights with my brother, my best friend Brian, and my dad (who showed up to watch the main event).
I was downright determined to get my money’s worth from the PPV, so I not only watched the entire main card, but the free preliminary fights as well.
The prelims started out with a great contest between Juan Heraldez and Jose Miguel Borrego, and it definitely did not disappoint.
Borrego came forward for most of the fight looking to land big power punches, while the technical Heraldez played the role of the matador, slipping Borrego’s attacks and connecting with crisp combinations of his own.
While Borrego was definitely down on the scorecards, he managed to connect with a big punch late in the fight that dropped Heraldez.
Heraldez crawled off the canvas, cleared his head, managed to finish the rest of the round, and then cruised to a unanimous decision by a score of 96-93 on one judge’s scorecard, and 97-92 from the other two judges.
The first bout on the main card was a boring “fight” between Andrew Tabiti and Steve Cunningham. I’d write more about this “scrap”, but I don’t want to put Gazette readers to sleep. Tabiti won by decision.
After that, there was an entertaining slugfest between Badou Jack and Nathan Cleverly.
Cleverly started fast, easily winning the first round, but then Jack began to take over. Jack ended up swarming Cleverly in the fifth round to force a tko via referee stoppage.
Gervonta Davis vs. Francisco Fonseca was co-main event of the night, and Davis spent most of the fight clowning his clearly overmatched opponent, before finishing him with a blatantly illegal shot to back of the head in the eighth round. Davis is an incredibly talented fighter, one I definitely will be keeping an eye on in the future, but he seems to be a very immature young man by the way he mocked his downed opponent after finishing him.
Then, finally, the main event arrived!
McGregor has always been a front runner, and this fight was no exception. He came out on fire, making his presence known in the first three rounds with a solid jab and fast combinations. Mayweather Jr. looked unfazed by McGregor’s power, and by the fourth round he started to turn up the volume, connecting with the majority of his punches.
McGregor’s solid chin helped him eat his opponent’s best shots, and he somehow managed to last all the way until the 10th round, when Mayweather Jr. teed off on him with a flurry of fists, sending him stumbling into the ropes, forcing the referee to intervene on his behalf.
In my opinion, Mayweather Jr. defeated the brash irishman with a classic boxing trick, the good ol’ “rope-a-dope” that Muhammad Ali made famous back in 1974 when he put away big George Foreman.
All told, it was a pretty fun way to spend a Saturday night, and I really enjoyed hanging out with my family, even if it did cost me $100. Did anyone else watch the fights? If so, let me know what you thought. I’m always down to talk combat sports.
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